Sainz Tops Friday Practice For 2022 Singapore GP

(Image credit: @F1)

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz topped Friday Practice for 2022 Singapore Grand Prix around Marina Bay, Singapore.

On F1’s return to Singapore for the first time since 2019, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton set the initial pace as he topped FP1 with a late flying lap.

Sainz however turned up the gears in FP2 to head Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell as teams reaquainted themselves with the Marina Bay Street Circuit, on a day which saw plenty of challenges for various drivers.

Now, here is a full roundup of all the action across FP1 and FP2.

 

FP1

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Having recently signed a new one-year contract to stay at Alfa Romeo for 2023 season, Guanyu Zhou was the first driver to venture out onto the circuit ahead of teammate – Valtteri Bottas, although it was Bottas who initially went quickest with 1m 51.264.

Several drivers swiftly displaced the Alfa Romeo duo as Verstappen posted 1m 47.329 to go top on medium tyres, only to be displaced by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who went fastest by 0.038 seconds.

Verstappen soon afterwards established himself at the top by the halfway-mark of session as he lowered the benchmark time to 1m 44.236 ahead of Alonso and Sergio Perez.

Williams’ Alex Albon who missed the Italian GP due to appendicitis was amongst early soft-tyre runners in the second-half of this session, and put himself briefly up to seventh.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll went second quickest but brought the red flags out in the 40th minute, as he stopped at Turn 7 after clipping the outside wall at Turn 5 with his left rear tyre.

Verstappen however was able to post 1m 43.117 to stay top just before the red flags came out.

The session resumed five minutes later with several drivers launching a flurry of soft-tyre fliers which culiminated with Hamilton finishing fastest with 1m 43.033 ahead of Verstappen by 0.084s.

Stroll, Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Bottas and Zhou all set their fastest lap times on medium tyres as they finished 8, 10, 11, 13 and 17th respectively.

Position Driver Team Time 
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m 43.033
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.084
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.402
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull + 0.806
5 George Russell Mercedes + 1.033
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari + 1.105
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine + 1.703
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 2.188
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri + 2.225
10 Fernando Alonso Alpine + 2.303
11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin + 2.321
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren + 2.691
13 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo + 2.692
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas + 2.995
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri + 3.048
16 Alex Albon Williams + 3.086
17 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo + 3.375
18 Mick Schumacher Haas + 3.568
19 Lando Norris McLaren + 3.647
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams + 4.059

 

FP2

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Bottas was first out on track and set initial benchmark lap time of 1m 45.839 but his time was soon bettered by Russell then Hamilton, who posted 1m 44.091 on mediums to go fastest.

Hamilton and Sainz then traded fastest laps throughout the opening half-hour of FP2 with the latter winning out with 1m 43.231, ahead of the soft-tyre Qualifying simulations.

Sainz eventually topped FP2 following completion of Qualifying simulations with 1m 42.587 ahead of Ferrari teammate – Leclerc, who sat out much of the session due to floor repair and left his quickest lap until five minutes from the checkered flag.

Russell finished third for Mercedes ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton, whilst Ocon, Bottas, Alonso, Perez and Stroll rounded out the top ten, whilst only Yuki Tsunoda set his fastest lap on the medium tyres.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly meanwhile suffered a brief fire above his cockpit in the pit lane but escaped unharmed, and was soon back out on track as he finished 14th fastest.

Position Driver Team Time 
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1m 42.587
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.208
3 George Russell Mercedes + 0.324
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.339
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 0.595
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine + 0.825
7 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo + 0.844
8 Fernando Alonso Alpine + 0.933
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull + 1.319
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 1.395
11 Lando Norris McLaren + 1.426
12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin + 1.662
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas + 1.835
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri + 1.882
15 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo + 1.937
16 Alex Albon Williams + 2.557
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri + 2.624
18 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren + 2.860
19 Mick Schumacher Haas + 3.036
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams + 3.966

2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  1. Sainz Tops Friday Practice For 2022 Singapore GP - Arab News
  2. Hamilton Believes Mercedes Not “Massively Off” Pace For 2022 Singapore GP – Sport Grill

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