Lando Norris rued a “difficult” day across free practice for this weekend’s Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, in what was a mixed day for the McLaren team.
Norris went sixth-fastest in FP1, and in FP2, could do no better than fifth, a session which was ended early after being punted into the wall in the pitlane by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
The bizarre incident saw the Norris’ front wing damaged, with Ferrari’s embarrassed mechanics helping their McLaren counterparts wheel the Brit’s car back into his garage.
For Norris, it was the cherry on the top of a bitter cake, seeing Piastri take first place in the second session after a quick lap late in the hour’s running.
They just changed the front wheel, the front wing, but those kind of things have been looking like they might happen with everybody having to scramble out the pits all season, really,” Norris told Sky F1 after the session.
Asked if it was disappointing for him, Norris quipped: “No, I mean, cost the team a bit of money, which is a shame.”
Norris was frustrated by his afternoon, saying he was not able to feel the positivity he felt around the circuit last year, on which he took victory/.
“It’s just a difficult day for me, not feeling too great with the car,” he said. “Yeah, missing all of the feelings that I had here last year, so plenty of things to work on. Yeah, just a bad day.”
Norris added: “I mean, Oscar’s quick, so I’ve got nothing to complain about, bar just not doing a very good job.”
Explaining he was unable to complete sufficient race runs in practice, Norris joked that he will “wing it and go into the race.”
Piastri sees qualifying as top priority after putting McLaren top in FP2
For Piastri, it was a complete contrast, the Australian smiling and exuding positivity after setting the fastest time in FP2, saying he seemed to find a good balance on his MCL39 with Medium tyres in the session.
“Found my feet on the Medium at the end there and then, yeah, Soft felt good,” he said. “So, yeah, obviously not much representative kind of race running, but no, the car’s been in a good place. I feel like I’ve learned a lot through today and that’s the aim of practice. So, it’s been a good day.”
Acknowledging qualifying is all essential on the tricky and challenging street circuit, Piastri indicated that Saturday’s session will be the top priority, and focus on the complications the race can bring later.
“Here, qualifying is a massive part of the weekend and it’s a massive part everywhere, but I think especially here, it’s one of the most important,” he explained.
“So, you’d rather qualify further up and deal with the unknown for the race than qualify further back but know exactly what’s going to happen in the race because it’s not really going to help you.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri tops incident-filled FP2 for F1 Singapore GP
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