Pierre Gasly was able to avoid injury when his Alpha Tauri caught fire at a Ferrari-dominated second practice session in Singapore.
Max Verstappen, Max’s birthday boy, failed to make it to the top Friday sessionHe turned 25 on the day that he was to be awarded the second world championship. Unlikely?.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton instead led the first session from the Dutchman, while Ferrari went first and second later on in the day.
The biggest moment from either practice, though, involved Gasly, whose no.10 car bizarrely burst into flames around the air intake by the driver’s head.
The Frenchman had already returned to the pitlane during the second session. A mechanic was returning his car to the garage and was shocked to see the car light up.
The team later reported that ‘A small fire broke out on his car after connecting the fuel breather,’ and made light of the issue in amusing fashion as Gasly jumped out unharmed as a quick thinking Aston Martin mechanic blasted the flames with an extinguisher.
The Singapore Grand Prix is the first opportunity for Verstappen to clinch his second world title, with the feat now mathematically possible should he win and teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc drop down the order.
This is unlikely, however, after Friday’s thunderstorm. dominant Red BullKeep up with their opponents’ pace
“I think it started off quite well in FP1; I think the car was working quite well,” Verstappen said.
“For FP2 we wanted to try a few things, but they just took a bit longer to change. Next, we wanted to test something new, and that again took a lot of time to change.
“We couldn’t really run a lot [so] that’s why I think it’s not really representative, what we showed in FP2. Of course, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, but it’s not the worst day.”
The Red Bull driver had a minor scare in the first session as he ran wide at turn 16, but he wasn’t the only one struggling with tarmac that hasn’t been raced on in three years.
Sainz had a master save, while Lance Stroll wasn’t so lucky in FP1, and later Hamilton drifted into turn one.
The Brit said that there was still room for improvement and he hoped to win his first season’s victory. This would continue his streak of at least one win per year since 2007, when he made his debut.
“It started off well. It wasn’t as great in the second session, but [it was] pretty much like every other weekend,” he said.
“The car is as it is, we were bouncing around, but it doesn’t feel like we are massively off here this weekend. We are still probably a second down, I would say – something like that.
“There’s definitely, on my side, more time [to find] – I just didn’t really get a clear lap. I have lots of options with the setup I have. [tyre] locking, but we’ll fix it tonight and come back and give it a better try tomorrow.
“I’m hoping we can be P5, P4 – something like that. If we can get any higher, that would be amazing.”
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