Lando Norris was a dejected figure after Friday practice at the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix as he felt he was “missing all of the feelings that I had here last year”.
The McLaren driver failed to finish above fifth across the two sessions, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso topping FP1 and then Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri leading FP2.
A collision towards the end of second practice summed up Norris’ day, as Charles Leclerc drove into him down the pitlane causing the McLaren to lose its front wing and Norris struggled to recover.
Although Norris refused to talk about the incident post-FP2, his frustration was obvious – particularly as the nine-time grand prix winner dominated Singapore from pole last year.
“It’s just a difficult day for me, not feeling too great with the car,” Norris, who was sixth in FP1 and fifth in FP2, told Sky Sports. “Missing all of the feelings that I had here last year. So plenty of things to work on – just a bad day.”
Another key moment in Norris’ day came at the end of FP2 when he complained to race engineer Will Joseph about his 0.483s deficit to Piastri.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Shameem Fahath / Motorsport Network
“My car’s not half a second off, is it?” Norris said. “My driving’s half a second off.”
The Brit’s self-critical approach to the start of his weekend continued into his post-session interview, and he told Sky Sports: “Oscar’s quick, so I’ve got nothing to complain about, bar just not doing a very good job.”
It was indeed a much better day for championship leader Piastri, who holds a 25-point gap over second-placed Norris with seven weekends remaining.
Piastri finished fifth in FP1 in Singapore, but due to the time of day that session occurred, the night-time FP2 was the more representative outing ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.
This resulted in an upbeat Australian, as Piastri went quickest in a twice red-flagged second practice thanks to his runs on the soft and medium rubber.
“I found my feet on the medium at the end there and then [the] soft felt good,” said Piastri. “So, obviously not much representative race running, but the car’s been in a good place.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot through today, and that’s the aim of practice. So it’s been a good day.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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