Max second in Singapore FP2: "Positive day"
Published on 15 September 2017 by Stefan Meens
Max Verstappen continued his good form around the streets of Singapore with a second place in Friday’s FP2. His Red Bull Racing team mate, Daniel Ricciardo, was quickest. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was third fastest around the Marina Bay street circuit.
“It was a positive day. From the start the car worked well”, said Max to Verstappen.nl “There’s always room for improvement but we can’t complain. We’ll have to check my power-unit because we had some issues on the straights. I don’t think we’ve hit our full pace yet so I’m confidently looking forward to tomorrow”.
Nevertheless, Max remains realistic “Mercedes and Ferrari were a bit off the pace today but they’ll be back tomorrow. They always have something extra in Q3. But it’s definitely our best chance of the year.”
After the first free practice session was driven in daylight, FP2 is lid up by artificial light as the evening has set in at the start of the session.
From the start, the Red Bull’s set the pace. In the initial stages, Max clocks the fastest ever lap around the Singapore circuit. After that, the Dutchman and Daniel Ricciardo trade fastest laps throughout the session
Halfway into the session, Sebastian Vettel causes a virtual safety after touching the wall with his Ferrari. The consequence of his shunt is a stray advertisement board on track.
In the final part of free practice 2, the Red Bulls focus on race simulations. Again both drivers put in encouraging lap times, that bode well for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
In final few moments, both Romain Grosjean (Haas F1) and Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) are called in by their respective teams because of technical issues, in an otherwise uneventful session.
Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay Circuit - Friday 15 September
FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS 01 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:40.852 33 02 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:41.408 +0.556s 28 03 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.555 +0.703s 36 04 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:42.104 +1.252s 35 05 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:42.448 +1.596s 33 06 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:42.501 +1.649s 34 07 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:42.788 +1.936s 32 08 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:42.826 +1.974s 35 09 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:42.835 +1.983s 30 10 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:43.054 +2.202s 34 11 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:43.104 +2.252s 33 12 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:43.236 +2.384s 38 13 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:43.608 +2.756s 32 14 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:43.795 +2.943s 32 15 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:43.836 +2.984s 32 16 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:44.301 +3.449s 32 17 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:44.417 +3.565s 32 18 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:44.928 +4.076s 29 19 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:45.673 +4.821s 34 20 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:45.721 +4.869s 35
