RUSSELL CRASH
Mercedes driver George Russell, who finished the evening sixth fastest, crashed into the walls in the closing moments of turn eight, but he was able to turn around and go back to the pits without the entrance wing.
” It was a really tough Friday for us, we were really off the rate”, he said. We must comprehend why that is, they say.
We made some significant adjustments from FP1 to FP2, but the car still does n’t feel as connected as it did before, both recently and last year. So we must try to understand the full picture.
” There’s a lot of surprises out there. There seems to be a significant gap between the McLaren and the Ferraris, and you have the VCARBs ( RBs ) very quickly, the Williams very quickly, and the Red Bull would seem to be off the pace.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was a shock third fastest, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, whose prospect at the team is questionable with Singapore probably his final race, in fifth place.
Seven days world champion Lewis Hamilton, a four days win in Singapore, was 11th for Mercedes with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso 12th.
Franco Colapinto, an Argentinian quarterback, pulled up at the Alpine mines instead of Williams and was waved onward. Alex Albon, a teammate, finished seventh, while he was 16th fastest.
Leclerc had set the fastest time of 1: 31.763 in the incident-free first treatment, 0.076 quicker than Norris.
The couple are the only individuals to have started in pole position in the last five tribes, and Saturday’s eligibility will be important for Singapore, the only competition Red Bull lost last year because driving is always challenging.
Verstappen, who was once strong, has now won seven ethnicities without a victory and looks good to stretch the run to eight on Sunday.