McLaren's split fortunes: Piastri quickest, Norris struggles for confidence at Marina Bay
McLaren experienced a tale of two sessions on Friday in Singapore. While Oscar Piastri topped the times in FP2, Lando Norris admitted he was "missing all the feelings" that powered him here last season. The Briton’s day never fully clicked as he searched for the confidence and balance that defined his previous Singapore weekend, calling it "just a bad day" and noting there was "plenty of things to work on" overnight.
Norris ended the disrupted second practice only fifth, with Piastri’s benchmark lap underscoring the MCL39’s potential at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The contrast sharpened the internal pressure: "Oscar's quick, so I have nothing to complain about bar just not doing a very good job," Norris said, framing his deficit as execution rather than an inherent car limitation.
Pitlane scrape adds to the drama
Complicating Norris’s session was contact in the pitlane with Charles Leclerc as the field rejoined after a red flag, leaving the McLaren with a damaged front wing. Norris maintained the incident did not materially affect his running thereafter, though it did cost the team unnecessary repair work on an already fragmented evening.
Where the time is
- Confidence window: Norris’s comments point to a narrow operating range on entry stability and traction that he struggled to access compared to last year’s feel.
- One-lap speed exists: Piastri’s FP2-topping effort confirms the car can be the reference if the balance window is hit.
- Execution over raw pace: With track evolution surging at night, out-lap prep and clean traffic will be decisive for both McLaren drivers on Saturday.
McLaren now faces a familiar Marina Bay equation: convert evident pace into repeatable performance. If Norris can reconnect with the car overnight, the team could field a potent two-pronged attack in qualifying.
