McLaren’s Lando Norris went fastest Friday to lead Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix with world champion Max Verstappen struggling to 15th. The session could not have panned out much better for Englishman Norris, who trails Verstappen by 59 points at the top of the drivers’ standings. The second practice in Singapore is pivotal for the teams as it is the only session which is run under the same night conditions as the race around the 4.94km Marina Bay Circuit.

“I felt like I got a lot out of Friday,” said Norris. “A good start to the weekend and if we can keep it up I’ll be happy.”

Verstappen had 60 minutes to forget and was only 15th fastest in a skittish Red Bull that looked at times like it was on ice.

The Dutch three-time world champion was a massive 1.294 seconds adrift of Norris’s fastest lap of 1min 30.727sec.

“Today was difficult. We didn’t have the grip that we would have liked on the tyres, so I felt like we were sliding a lot more than usual,” admitted Verstappen, who had a bad day off the track too after earlier being reprimanded by stewards for swearing in the drivers’ press conference.

Leclerc, who had been fastest in first practice, clocked 1:30.785, just 0.058sec slower than Norris, but Sainz, who won in Singapore 12 months ago, was almost six tenths behind his teammate.

“There’s still some work ahead of us to get it to feel exactly as I want it to,” said the Monegasque Leclerc.

“We have to find the right balance and put it all together in qualifying tomorrow.”

Yuki Tsunoda in a much-improved RB was fourth ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, fresh from his victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku last weekend.

The second RB driven by Daniel Ricciardo was sixth.

George Russell’s Mercedes, Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, Alex Albon’s Williams and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 on the timesheets.

‘Nothing seems to work’

Russell crashed into a wall at turn eight near the end of the session, but managed to limp back to the pits without his front wing which was embedded in the barrier.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton has won four times before in Singapore, but the seven-time world champion was a long way off the pace on Friday.

“At the moment, we won’t be going into Q3,” Hamilton said after coming 11th, 0.982 seconds behind Norris.

“We tried everything set-up wise and nothing seems to work.”

Singapore was the only race Red Bull failed to win last year in a dominant season.

They returned 12 months later having lost their lead at the top of the constructors’ standings to McLaren, who are 20 points ahead.

Verstappen has not won for seven grands prix as McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have all taken the chequered flag.

It looks odds-on that his fortunes will not improve around the unpredictable city centre track, where he has never won.

Meanwhile, McLaren said Friday they would modify their controversial rear wing after other teams, led by Red Bull, questioned its legality.

Governing body the FIA had said the wing, which was dubbed by some observers as a “mini-DRS (drag reduction system)” after footage showed it moving at high speed, was legal and no modifications were needed.

“While our Baku rear wing complies with the regulations and passes all FIA deflection tests, McLaren have proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to the wing following our conversations with the FIA,” said a McLaren statement.

“We would also expect the FIA to have similar conversations with other teams in relation to the compliance of their rear wings.”

Charles Leclerc on Saturday set himself up to bid for another emotional Ferrari victory when he claimed his fourth consecutive pole position on the streets of Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver, who triumphed at Monaco in May and won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza two weeks ago, continued his supreme current form to beat McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by three-tenths of a second. Despite three previous poles in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Leclerc has yet to taste victory in Azerbaijan.

In a dramatic qualifying session with title-chasing Lando Norris, in the second McLaren, eliminated in Q1 in 17th place, Leclerc clocked a best lap of one minute and 43.365 on his final run to take his career 26th pole.

Series leader and three-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who leads Norris by 62 points, qualified only sixth.

“It’s amazing to be on pole,” said Leclerc.

‘The pace was there’

“The car felt really good and everything was great. It’s one of my favourite tracks. I really like it. It hasn’t been an easy weekend because of my crash in FP1.

“It didn’t make me lose confidence, as I knew that the pace was there, but you’ve got to be back up to speed.

“In Q3 and qualifying, it was all about trying to stay away from the walls and on the last lap I went for it a bit more – and the lap time came very nicely.”

His Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz was third in the second Ferrari ahead of Sergio Perez of Red Bull and Mercedes’ George Russell.

“Its the best we could hope for,” said Leclerc.

“The left side of the grid is a little bit less grippy, so first and third is where you want to start here and hopefully we can play a team game tomorrow to win.

“It’s going to be a long race. In the past, we have been very strong in qualifying and struggled a bit in the race, but this year we have a stronger race car — so I hope we can finally make it tomorrow.

“Tyre management will be a big thing so we’ve got to do a good job again. We did a good job in Monza, but we have to re-set every race we do so this is another race with other issues.”

Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz qualified third.

“We had a solid qualifying and we’re in a good position. I’ve never felt 100 per cent hooked up around here in my career and I tend to struggle on this track, but this is a good position. And my race pace seemed strong — so I think it is all to play for.”

Sergio Perez was a strong fourth for Red Bull on a track he enjoys, ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and Verstappen.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh for Mercedes ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Argentine new boy Franco Colapinto who out-paced his more experienced Williams team-mate Alex Albon.

Charles Leclerc at Azerbaijan GP© AFP