Lando Norris will have to overcome a disappointing Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix if he is to close the gap on McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the race for the Formula 1 drivers’ title.
The Briton sits 25 points behind Piastri heading into the weekend at the Marina Bay Circuit with both drivers having left Azerbaijan frustrated, albeit with Norris cutting the margin in Baku.
But his start to the Singapore GP was far from satisfying as he found himself involved in a bizarre incident with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as well as struggling for pace compared to Piastri.
Norris’ frustration
First practice in Singapore is largely irrelevant, given it takes place during daytime hours, with focus placed on FP2 under the floodlights and night sky as the conditions are representative of what will be faced in qualifying and the race.
Two red flag periods in the second session, caused by crashed for Mercedes’ George Russell and Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson, meant that run plans were disrupted for the entire field.
But Norris was further set back upon the second resumption of the session as he was shoved into the wall on pitlane as cars filtered back out of the garages.
McLaren’s garages are situated one berth ahead of Ferrari’s and with Norris already emerging, Leclerc’s mechanic failed to notice the oncoming Papaya machine, feeding the Monegasque directly on a collision course.
It left Norris to be wheeled back to his pitbox for a replacement front wing and, having been lucky to escape further damage, he would eventually finish fifth fastest, some half a second down on Piastri who topped the session.
With his only reference to the incident with Leclerc being that it has cost his McLaren team “a bit of money,” Norris instead focused on his own performance.
“It was a difficult day for me, not feeling too great with the car,” he told Sky Sports UK. “Missing all the feeling I had here last year so plenty of things to work on, just a bad day.”
Norris took pole position and the victory at this event 12 months ago and will need a drastic turnaround from his Friday fortunes to replicate the feat.
But he was quick to play down any issues with the car, pointing to his championship rival’s own performance in the sister car: “Oscar is quick so I’ve got nothing to complain about other than not doing a very good job.”
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