EL2 in Singapore: Kimi king of the night, Vettel hits the wall

The Finn, who will join Sauber next year, is ahead of the Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton by 11 thousandths, the Briton having passed the Hyper-Soft tires for the first time this weekend during these FP2. The 2007 world champion, however, made a slight error by exceeding the permitted speed in the pits, which is 60 km/h in Singapore. Consequence: 1 euros fine for his team.

Dashing at the end of the afternoon, the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo fell to 3rd and 4th places respectively in the evening, with only 0,088s between the two representatives of Milton Keynes. The two RB14s, however, emerged more than half a second behind the leaders.

On board the second Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas only rode very little with Pirelli's pink-sided compound during his short stints and was content with 5th fastest time. Carlos Sainz confirms the good intentions of Renault by hoisting his R.S.18 into 6th position, ahead Romain Grosjean (Haas) and his compatriot Fernando Alonso (McLaren) which he will replace next year.

Only 9th under the Marina Bay spotlight, Hag went to hug the wall and damaged one of the radiators of his SF71H. The German, who is 30 points behind Hamilton in the championship before Sunday's race, had to dismount prematurely. 

It seemed like the slightest of glances

But this scrape ended Sebastian Vettel's FP2 early at Marina Bay #SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/DYeDl77aKy

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 14, 2018

Nico Hulkenberg completes the Top 10 and allows Renault to place its two cars in the first half of the table. Guilty of a touch in EL1, Charles Leclerc marks the 14th time for Sauber, two places behind his garage neighbor Marcus Ericsson who suffered a scare at the end of the session. 

French side, Esteban Ocon ranks 13th, two places behind teammate Sergio Pérez as Force India made significant changes this weekend in Singapore. 

The Toro Rosso with Honda engines hardly seem to be celebrating, Pierre Gasly placing itself in 18th place, one position behind Brendon Hartley in the other STR13. Note, however, that the two drivers from the Faenza team are discovering this winding circuit of 23 turns – a season record – traced in the city-state. THE Williams de Lance stroll and Sergey Sirotkin bring up the rear almost 3,5s from Räikkönen's benchmark. 

Red Bull impressed during the first runs, Ferrari was consistent during the two sessions, and Mercedes showed some intentions in FP2. This is promising for the qualifying session, which is decisive on such a narrow track. Before that, the 3rd free session will take place at 18:00 p.m. local time (noon in France). Qualifying will begin at 21:00 p.m. (15:00 p.m.) and will be followed live with commentary on CARhebdo.fr.

FP2 CLASSIFICATION (90/90 MINS)

Kimi Raikkonen heads the charge in FP2, with Hamilton close behind#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/SrCtAiJTwx

- Formula 1 (@ F1) September 14, 2018