Lando Norris admits hoping for bigger gap from ‘very fast’ Ferrari despite strong start in Singapore

Lando Norris was feeling positive about his first day of running at the Singapore Grand Prix having ended Friday at the top of the timesheets, though the Briton admitted to hoping for a larger gap between himself and Ferrari after only narrowly beating Charles Leclerc.

Norris looked to be in good form from early on at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, having initially held P1 in the first practice hour before being displaced by Leclerc by only 0.076s. The roles then reversed in FP2, where Norris went fastest but had the Monegasque just 0.058s behind him.

FP2: Norris edges out Leclerc as Russell crashes during second practice in Singapore

Reflecting on how the car had felt during the day, Norris explained: “Yeah, pace is good. I’m feeling good, it was also a nice lap. I think we’re doing what we expect, I guess, to be up at the front and to be there with Ferrari.

“But it was a very nice lap and Charles is only [0.058s] behind. I was hoping to have a much bigger gap than what I had, honestly, which means they’re quick, it means Ferrari are very, very fast. But, yeah, things are going well so far.”

Asked if he had felt dialled in since his first flying lap on the soft tyres in FP1, the 24-year-old responded: “Yeah, actually that was my first comment to the whole team – it just felt good straight away.

“To be honest, I think we’re always pretty good at that – I think one of our strengths is just arriving and performing well, but then we tend not to progress as much as some of the other teams. We’ll see, it’s going to be close but I think we’re in a decent position.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 20: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 — Norris topped the timesheets in FP2, having narrowly missed out to Leclerc in FP1

“I feel like there’s not a lot we can change, honestly, but just trying to perfect a little bit, try and iron out a couple of little things and push it in a slightly quicker direction. It’s all we can do.”

Norris and Leclerc looked to be some way ahead of their rivals in FP2, with closest challenger Carlos Sainz being over half a second away. When quizzed on whether this had come as a surprise, Norris acknowledged Leclerc’s tendency to perform well at venues like Singapore.

“Charles is very good at street circuits – we’ve seen in Baku, we’ve seen in Monaco what he’s capable of doing,” the McLaren driver said. “I’m sure he’s probably quite happy with his lap. If he wasn’t happy with his lap, I’m quite worried for tomorrow!

“It was a nice lap from me, not a lot more in it, honestly, so I felt like I got a lot out of Friday. But normally I prefer not being so good and then always having a bit extra going into Saturday! A good start to the weekend, I think we’re in a good place, and if we can keep it up then I’ll be happy.”

On the other side of the garage, Oscar Piasti had a less-than-ideal start to his Friday after a rear-left tyre seemingly became stuck on his car during a pit stop practice earlier in the day, meaning that he faced a delayed start in FP1 as mechanics worked to fix the issue. He finished that session in P6 before going one place better in FP2.

In terms of how much of an impact the incident had on his ability to find a rhythm, Piastri commented: “It wasn’t an ideal start to the day, but I don’t think it’s really impacted much. It’s been a difficult day, definitely, but I don’t think it was down to that.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 20: Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren looks on in the garage — Piastri had a delayed start to his running in first practice following an issue with the rear-left tyre on his car

“Just struggled to find a rhythm, really. The pace of the car looks strong, just not really been able to unlock it that well. There’s definitely some things to go into tonight.”

With a sizeable gap to Norris during Friday’s practice sessions, Piastri is hopeful that he can become happier with the car as the weekend progresses.

FP1: Leclerc goes fastest from Norris and Sainz during first practice in Singapore

“I’m just not very comfortable with it at the moment, for whatever reason,” the Australian explained. “I didn’t feel my lap was great, but I haven’t felt that many of the laps have been great.

“Just need to try and find a little bit more, try and get a bit more comfortable with the car I think is probably the first thing, and then really try and find the limit from there.

“So [there are] some things to work on, our pace looks not too bad – we’re still somewhere towards the front, but obviously the gap to Lando is bigger than what it should be. Just need to try and find a bit more.”