Lando Norris set a blistering pace ahead of a crucial Singapore qualifying session to dominantly lead the final practice timesheet at Marina Bay as all of the title-chasing McLaren driver’s key rivals struggled.
Narrowly the pacesetter from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Friday, Norris was in a league of his own on the soft-tyre runs in the weekend’s final day-time session on Saturday to set the pace from nearest challenger George Russell by almost half a second.
After the latest appearance on track of one of Singapore’s lizards briefly saw the session red-flagged, Norris was the only driver to lap the demanding street track in under 90 seconds, stopping the clocks in a time of 1:29.646, and ended up with a 0.479s advantage over Russell’s second-placed Mercedes and an eye-catching 0.785s one over McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, last week’s winner in Baku.
“Lando is in a league of his own. The way he is driving his car puts it on rails,” said 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg on Sky Sports F1 at the end of the final practice session before qualifying at 2pm.
“The other surprise this morning is Russell, who is extracting the most from his Mercedes. There’s no one else.”
Max Verstappen, who leads Norris by a reduced margin of 59 points in the Drivers’ Championship, was an improved fourth but a whopping 0.894s off his title rival’s storming pace.
After struggling once more with their car on Friday on a track they toiled at last year, Red Bull had looked better in the earlier running on the medium tyres after apparent changes to the RB20’s suspension overnight to aid its ride over the kerbs.
But the car’s pace was then absolutely not there again relative to Norris when the field switched to the softer compound for the low-fuel simulations, which will be a concern for the business end of qualifying after a series of disappointing weekends for the under-pressure reigning champions.
Team-mate Sergio Perez’s soft-tyre run did not go to plan and the Mexican wound up 15th.
Mercedes had also struggled on the opening day, but Russell’s second-place position pointed to improvement for them, with team boss Toto Wolff saying afterwards that the W15 was now in a “much better window” after engineers “turned the car upside down, literally” with set-up changes.
Lewis Hamilton though continued to trail a long way behind Russell, the seven-time champion finishing 0.7s back on the lead Mercedes in seventh place.
“They have a bit of a different set-up and we tried a few things in the session, so that’s not the gap you would normally have with the same car,” added Wolff on the difference between his two drivers.
But the biggest shock of the session was Ferrari’s sudden slump in form which left them fifth and sixth.
Leclerc had finished yesterday’s running within a tenth of a second of Norris but ended final practice 0.913 off the pace with the Monegasque complaining of a lack of grip at the end of his soft-tyre run.
Leclerc and Norris had been evenly matched on Friday, but Ferrari’s pace surprisingly fell away in final practice at least with the former 0.913s off the pace in fifth.
“They’re definitely praying now in the Ferrari garage that things just fall back into place as they were last night, when they were really quick,” suggested Rosberg.
Williams’ fine run of form continued, meanwhile, with both their drivers again in the top 10 in eighth and ninth, with impressive rookie Franco Colapinto within hundredths of experienced team-mate Alex Albon’s pace.
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s live Singapore GP schedule
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments to have taken place at the Singapore Grand Prix
Saturday September 21
1pm: Singapore GP Qualifying build-up
2pm: SINGAPORE GP QUALIFYING*
4pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday September 22
8.30am: F1 Academy Race Two
11:30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore GP build-up
1pm: The SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
3pm: Chequered Flag: Singapore GP reaction
4pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1’s thrilling 2024 season continues live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend with more stunning street circuit action, this time under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime