Practice report
Formula 1 Singapore GP
Singapore GP: Raikkonen tops FP2, setback for Vettel
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen topped the second Formula 1 free practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Edd Straw
Edited: Sep 14, 2018, 8:57 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Raikkonen was fastest early on using ultrasoft Pirellis, setting a best time of 1m40.510s to outpace Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.030s.
During the early running, Lewis Hamilton went off up the Turn 14 escape road after a near miss with Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton was closing rapidly on the Ferrari when he locked up into the right-hander, narrowly avoiding hitting the red car.
When drivers switched to hypersofts for their qualifying simulations, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas briefly went fastest before being deposed by teammate Hamilton's 1m38.710s lap.
Raikkonen then claimed top spot with 53 minutes of the session remaining, setting a lap of 1m38.699s to beat Hamilton by 0.011s.
Vettel was on a lap that could have challenged the top two when he hit the wall with the right-hand side of his car exiting the Turn 21 left-hander late in the lap.
He was able to recover to the pits, but reported he suspected he had sustained damage, with evidence of a leak as his car was dragged into the garage.
Vettel did not return to the track, ending up ninth based on his pace on ultrasofts earlier in the session – lapping 1.934s off the pace.
Red Bull's promising early pace did not carry over to its qualifying simulations, with Max Verstappen 0.522s off the pace in third, just under a tenth faster than teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Later in the session, Verstappen reported he had a problem coming out of Turn 7 with a "misfire or something" - later telling the team that the problem was recurring.
The pace of the Red Bulls meant Bottas was shuffled down to fifth, 0.669s off the pace.
Carlos Sainz was best of the 'Class B' runners for Renault, lapping 0.906s off Bottas and three tenths faster than Haas driver Romain Grosjean.
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso was eighth fastest, just under two tenths faster than Vettel, with Renault's Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.
Force India ran a major upgrade on both cars, with Sergio Perez 11th and Esteban Ocon 13th – split by the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson, who had a spin late in the session.
Charles Leclerc recovered from his first-session error, when he struck the wall and damaged his front-right suspension, to end up 14th fastest.
Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top 15 for Haas, 2.455s off Raikkonen's time and just 0.010s faster than McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne.
With Toro Rosso pairing Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly 17th and 18th respectively, Williams duo Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin brought up the rear, both almost 3.5s off the pace.
Stroll suffered a right-rear brake fire during the session, but was able to get it under control by slowing down to cool the brakes and return to the pits.
Cla Driver Chassis Engine Laps Time Gap 1 
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 35 1'38.699 2 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 20 1'38.710 0.011 3 
Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 28 1'39.221 0.522 4 
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 33 1'39.309 0.610 5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 33 1'39.368 0.669 6 
Carlos Sainz Renault Renault 36 1'40.274 1.575 7 
Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 33 1'40.384 1.685 8 
Fernando Alonso McLaren Renault 31 1'40.459 1.760 9 
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 12 1'40.633 1.934 10 
Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 35 1'40.668 1.969 11 
Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 30 1'40.774 2.075 12 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 37 1'40.812 2.113 13 
Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 33 1'40.870 2.171 14 
Charles Leclerc Sauber Ferrari 37 1'41.062 2.363 15 
Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 32 1'41.154 2.455 16 
Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Renault 32 1'41.164 2.465 17 
Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso Honda 38 1'41.542 2.843 18 
Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 36 1'41.615 2.916 19 
Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 17 1'42.141 3.442 20 
Sergey Sirotkin Williams Mercedes 36 1'42.181 3.482
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ferrari signed Leclerc until at least 2022
Next article Renault denies it broke "gentleman's agreement" with Haas protest
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Edd Straw
How the Senna myth has been transformed
Formula 1
Formula 1
How the Senna myth has been transformed
Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock
Formula 1
Formula 1
Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock
The lost F1 team that launched Adrian Newey
Formula 1
Formula 1
The lost F1 team that launched Adrian Newey
Latest news
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 2 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
2 h
Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe