Lando Norris Dominates Final Practice at Singapore Grand Prix

Lando Norris delivered a commanding performance during the final practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, leading the results with a substantial margin. The McLaren driver’s fastest lap managed to outpace his closest competitor, George Russell of Mercedes, by 0.479 seconds, highlighting McLaren’s impressive speed on the track. Oscar Piastri, also from McLaren, finished third in the standings.

While conditions during the practice were not entirely indicative of what drivers would experience in qualifying at the Marina Bay Circuit, Norris’ advantage signaled his team’s potential strength. Max Verstappen came in fourth place, expressing satisfaction with improvements made overnight to his Red Bull‘s performance, despite being 0.894 seconds behind Norris.

The session began slowly, with only Aston Martin‘s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll making early appearances on the track, accompanied by an unusual visitor—a lizard, which necessitated a red flag to safely remove the protected species from the circuit. This incident added a brief delay to the session.

Once the session resumed, the pace quickly picked up. Verstappen initially set a strong early pace, positioning himself ahead of Norris and Charles Leclerc, utilizing medium compound tires. As more drivers swapped to softer compounds, lap times began to tumble. Russell eventually set a leading time of 1m30.125s on soft tires before Norris overtook him with a 1m29.646s lap.

Piastri also made a notable impression, placing third, while Ferrari’s Leclerc and Carlos Sainz managed to secure fifth and sixth positions, respectively, showcasing competitive runs but failing to match McLaren and Mercedes’ form.

The session concluded with Norris firmly establishing the fastest lap of the weekend thus far, followed by Russell, Piastri, Verstappen, and the Ferrari drivers completing the top six positions. Lewis Hamilton posted the seventh-fastest time, trailing his Mercedes teammate, while Alexander Albon of Williams, Franco Colapinto, also from Williams, and Alonso rounded out the top ten.

Elsewhere, Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull led the second half of the standings, as Daniel Ricciardo came in 17th, ahead of a disappointed Lance Stroll, and the Sauber pair of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu concluded the field.