The opening day of running at the Singapore Grand Prix provided plenty of intrigue. The team ran all three compounds across the two practice sessions, gathering plenty of data across both the single lap and long runs.
In the late afternoon running of FP1, both drivers used the Hard and Soft compound tyres although neither was happy with the overall balance.
In FP2, both got a brief look at the Soft tyre but the main focus of the hour was the long run on the Medium compound. Lewis and George completed most of their programme, albeit with George's session ending a few minutes early after losing his front-wing following minor contact with the wall at turn 8. The team will now analyse the data and learnings overnight before returning for FP3 tomorrow afternoon.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: That was one of the trickier Friday's of the year so far. We experimented with different set-ups across the cars in FP1, aiming to try and counter some of the challenges we'd faced particularly on our Medium tyre stint last weekend in Baku. Unfortunately, the track conditions didn't give us a brilliant read on this, so we converged more closely for FP2. Neither driver was particularly happy with the balance throughout the session, although we made some progress on our long run.
Whilst that second hour of running was more encouraging, we've still got a good chunk of work to do overnight. McLaren and Ferrari, in particular Norris and Leclerc, looked to be a step ahead of the rest of the field. We will have to find some big improvements to be in the fight with them tomorrow. We've also got one eye on some of the teams behind us. We will need to find gains overnight if we are to have a smoother run through qualifying and that is what we are focused on doing.
Scuderia Ferrari HP enjoyed a productive Friday in the heat and humidity of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, which hosted the first two hours of free practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, the 18th round of the Formula 1 World Championship. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were always front runners, first and third in the first session and second and third in the evening one, held under floodlights. The SF-24 performed well with both drivers who evaluated all three Pirelli compounds, as they worked in both qualifying and race trim.
The cars went out on track for the first session at 17.30 with Charles and Carlos each running a set of Hards while they refamiliarized themselves with the track. They then pitted to switch to Soft tyres, improving their times to 1'31"763 for Charles, the best lap of the session, while the Spaniard managed a 1'31"952, good enough for third. In the latter part of the session, both drivers reverted to the tyres used at the start, running a heavy fuel load. Charles completed 26 laps, Carlos 27 for a team total of 53.
The session got underway at 21.00 with the track floodlights turned on, as Charles and Carlos set off on Medium tyres before switching to Softs with which Leclerc went second quickest in 1'30"785 and Carlos posted the third best time of 1'31"356. With half the session remaining they both went back to the Medium tyres used at the start, taking on a heavier fuel load to run in race trim. Leclerc did 28 laps and Sainz did 27, for a total of 55 laps.
Overnight, with the teams still at work on European time, to avoid jet lag, the team will analyse all today's data to ensure it gets all the performance out of the SF-24 package, especially with an eye on qualifying, which is so important at this track. Tomorrow's grid deciding session takes place at 21.00 local time (15.00 CEST) after the third and final hour of free practice at 17.30 (11.30 CEST).
Andrea Stella - Team Principal : "Both sessions were pretty productive, we had to do some checks to the car after kisses to the wall but otherwise Friday has been smooth for the team. We have a lot of data to look at in terms of car setup and tyre behaviours. It's difficult to understand the competitiveness situation. We see that there's some midfielders that look to be pretty quick here, so we expect another busy and tight competitive session in Qualifying and the race. We will do our best to be as prepared as possible to fight at the front for another positive result."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director: Alex started today with the updated package, using FP1 to get up to speed with the different way it drives, however, after FP2, he was still not completely happy with the balance of the car. Franco used FP1 to learn the track but was quite quickly on the pace, despite also struggling with the balance of the car. The positive is that the car feels much better than last year, which is promising. We'll go through all the data tonight as we know there is more performance to find for tomorrow.
Alan Permane (Racing Director): "It was a sensible Friday for us. Firstly, both cars came home in one piece at the end of each session, which is always a good start on a track like this. Both drivers were reasonably happy with their cars from the very start of the first session. We made a few minor changes prior to FP2 to tweak the balance and again, the drivers were pretty satisfied. We still have a bit of work to do on single lap pace, but we know which direction to go in and we will make some final adjustments tomorrow before the final hour of practice to ensure the cars are in the best possible shape for Saturday night's qualifying."
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber took to the streets of Singapore for the first two practice sessions in Marina Bay. FP1 saw Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu contend with a very dusty track, but the real test came in FP2, under the night-time floodlights, in conditions that resemble what awaits the team in tomorrow's qualifying.
Round 18 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship began with Friday practice at the Marina Bay Circuit as teams prepared for Sunday's 62-lap Singapore Grand Prix.
FP1, held late afternoon, saw MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg get their first taste of the 4.940-kilometer (3.069-mile), 19-turn street circuit. Both drivers sampled the Pirelli P Zero White hard tire followed by the Red soft compound - the latter being the set they compiled their fastest laps on. Magnussen clocked a 1:33.377 for P17 with Hulkenberg on a 1:33.797 for P20.
Under the night sky and in the full glare of the myriad of lights lining the track, FP2 ran under conditions representative of Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's night race. Magnussen and Hulkenberg commenced their second practice plan with a stint on the Yellow medium tire before qualifying sims on the soft rubber. Hulkenberg cracked the top 10 with a 1:31.667 for P10 while Magnussen landed P13 with a tour of 1:31.793. Both cars ended on a high-fuel outing, Hulkenberg back on his earlier set of mediums, with Magnussen remaining on his softs.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team ran a total of 97 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 - Hulkenberg (50), Magnussen (47).
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "In FP1 we struggled a bit with track conditions, but FP2 was a lot better so both drivers are happier with the car. We still need to fine-tune some of the set-up to get the full performance out of the car for this circuit. Kevin had a pretty decent long run on the soft tire, so we learned a great deal for Sunday which is really good information. Overnight, we'll be looking at the specific corners we're losing lap time in and improve the car a bit more so that Nico and Kevin can take more confidence into FP3 and qualifying."
Lando Norris was quickest come the end of the first day of the Singapore Grand Prix. The McLaren driver set his best time in the second session, stopping the clocks in 1'30"727, 58 thousandths quicker than second placed Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari: both drivers are already under last year's pole position time set by Carlos Sainz (1'30"984).
The fact that the track is considerably quicker than a year ago was already evident in FP1, when the same two drivers topped the time sheet, but in the reverse order, first the Monegasque in 1'31"763, second the Englishman in 1'31"839, also quicker than last year's Friday times.
In terms of tyre usage, the initial impression is very different to last Friday in Baku, even though the three dry tyre compounds are the same. In Azerbaijan, the white-banded Hard was barely seen, with only Alpine and Mercedes doing significant runs with them, whereas here all the drivers used a set of C3s: 13 in the first session, seven in the second.
The "colour chart" on the long runs was also varied, with all three compounds used in race simulations for Sunday, even the Soft which usually does not see much use in the race.
Mario Isola: "A day that could be described as normal. Two hours of free practice went off without a hitch, with all teams trying all three available compounds, also with different fuel loads. From what we saw today, there was no graining, not even on the Soft, which could open the door to its eventual use on Sunday. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how the teams tackle the third free practice sessions while there's the mandatory selection of the Hard and a Medium, some could choose to hold back two Mediums while others might prefer having an extra set of new Softs for qualifying.
"The track proved to be considerably quicker than last year, to the extent that the 2023 pole time has already been beaten. Apart from the inevitable improvement in car performance from one year to the next, it could also be down to the fact that the track, at least on the racing line, has been cleaned with high-pressure jet washers, which means the track surface offers better performance and is much cleaner. However, lap times will continue to come down as the track rubbers in, so it is conceivable that in qualifying we could even get below the 1'29"200 predicted for pole by the simulations provided by the teams going into this Grand Prix.
"One unknown factor could be the weather, as one can never rule out heavy showers here, straddling the Equator, which could see a reset of track conditions and a loss of the grip built up so far."
