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The first day of the 2024 F1 Singapore GP is now done and dusted, and we have Lando Norris leading the charts, less than a tenth clear of Charles Leclerc. With disruptions expected due to rain, there were question marks over how the teams would approach Friday.
By the looks of it, the teams went for it in both sessions, keeping in mind that FP2 could be disrupted by rain. The duo of Norris and Leclerc was followed by Carlos Sainz, who was more than half a second behind.
Other contenders like Oscar Piastri were in P4, while the likes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were not in the top 5. With the first day of running in the F1 Singapore GP done and dusted, what did we learn? Let's take a look.
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2024 F1 Singapore GP FP1 and FP2: Key Takeaways
#1 Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris are in a league of their own
It's almost as if we have a situation where Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris are driving on a different track while the rest of the grid is on something else. One thing that was quite clear from the first day of running in the F1 Singapore GP is that both drivers approached this weekend with a different level of determination, and the kind of confidence they have in the car is brilliant.
How the rest of the weekend goes will be interesting but for now, Leclerc and Norris are in a league of their own.
#2 Max Verstappen is in need of serious damage limitation
As it turns out, Max Verstappen wasn't joking when he said that he was hoping to reach Q3 in the F1 Singapore GP. The Red Bull does not look balanced or happy in the hands of the Dutch driver. He doesn't seem to have the confidence in the car that he used to.
It's not going well for the Dutch driver at the F1 Singapore GP and that should be concerning for the team and the driver as well.
#3 It's open house beyond McLaren and Ferrari at the front
Beyond McLaren and Ferrari at the front, it's anybody's game by the looks of it. Red Bull is struggling a lot but so is Mercedes. In all of this, both RB and Williams appear to have found form, which makes things dicey for the chasing pack behind McLaren and Ferrari.
#4 Williams and RB look in better shape than usual
Williams with Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto was more in the spotlight but RB also looked like a car that just came alive on the track. Every track has its requirements and hence a car's strengths and weaknesses tend to get weighed accordingly.
For the F1 Singapore GP, we have both Williams and RB in a position where they could find themselves in Q3. The cars look great around the track and that should give the team overall confidence.
#5 Alpine continues to struggle
Alpine was one team that possibly could have been expected to do a better job at the F1 Singapore GP. The car tends to do well on tracks that are not necessarily power-sensitive and even in the past, the car has done well around Marina Bay.
This time around, though, it does appear that Alpine is maybe a step behind even the midfield teams, making it hard for the team to affect a turnaround of sorts.
