Singapore Grand Prix – Free Practice 3: Sainz asserts himself, Verstappen complains

In great difficulty during Friday’s sessions, the two Red Bull drivers left their garage quite early in this session. The goal was to find a remedy for Red Bull’s poor form as quickly as possible. The engineers of the Austrian team probably didn’t get much sleep from Friday night to Saturday. On his first attempt, Max Verstappen set all sectors in purple and mentally revived his team. However, Sergio Perez, the fastest man from Red Bull on Friday afternoon, was struggling to keep up with his leader’s pace. After 20 minutes of the session, there was a difference of over six tenths between the two teammates.

Paradoxically not the fastest or most technical turn on the track, the first corner in Singapore caught several drivers off guard. The first was Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque had to exert a lot of energy to keep up with the other prancing horse. Carrying a bit too much speed, he was forced to take the escape route. The second was Liam Lawson. After an extremely crazy first race at Zandvoort, the Kiwi must learn a new layout that he has never raced on in his career. This learning process did not come without a few obstacles. The AlphaTauri driver bit too hard on the kerb and spun out. An off-track excursion that, fortunately for him, didn’t damage his car. Dissatisfied with his machine since the beginning of the weekend, Max Verstappen also went wide at the first corner.

The fastest man in FP2 and author of a symbolic podium at Monza, Carlos Sainz has never seemed so confident this season. Very quick in qualifying pace, the Spaniard could very well go for a second consecutive pole this season. In FP3, on worn medium tires, he was keeping up with the Mercedes cars on soft tires, but more importantly, he was much faster than Verstappen and his teammate on the same tires. While the data shows that the red cars are not as comfortable in race pace as they are in qualifying, the Marina Bay Street Circuit is a track where overtaking is not easy, and where, like in Monaco, it’s possible to slow down to survive.

However, sporting the same special livery, the two McLaren drivers are experiencing very different weekends. While Lando Norris has been equipped with all the new upgrades, Oscar Piastri must settle for driving the old version of the car. Having mainly focused on race pace, when both of Zak Brown’s employees took to the track with the red tires at the end of the session, the gap in pace was evident. Norris was going four tenths faster than the 2021 F2 champion.

Carlos Sainz confirmed his speed by finishing the session with a 1’32’065. George Russell is only 69 milliseconds slower than the Ferrari. Lando Norris, in third place, two tenths behind, could benefit from the new improvements on his car to disrupt the competition. The battle for pole position between Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull is shaping up to be tightly contested. Hindered by understeer and gear shifting issues, which the Dutchman expressed strong criticism about over the radio, his rivals could take advantage and put an end to his streak of consecutive wins.