Norris quickest as Verstappen bounces back in Singapore practice

Lando Norris stormed to the quickest lap by almost half a second in Saturday’s final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix as under-pressure championship leader Max Verstappen finally found some pace.

The McLaren driver put together a scintillating lap of 1min 29.64sec around the Marina Bay Circuit, 0.479sec faster than George Russell’s Mercedes.

Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren was third fastest, a further three-tenths of a second adrift.

Verstappen had been badly off the pace in Friday’s opening two sessions but the three-time world champion saw overnight modifications to his Red Bull pay off with a lap of 1:30.540 for a much-improved fourth on the timesheets.

All indications after Friday’s first two sessions had been that the qualifying battle later would shape up into a straight fight between McLaren and Ferrari.

But the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were only fifth and sixth, with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes seventh.

The top 10 was rounded out by the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Singapore was the only race Red Bull did not win last year in a dominant season and they come to the Formula One night race this year in a fight with McLaren, who are 20 points ahead, and third-placed Ferrari for the teams’ title.

Norris, who looked majestic during his flying lap, is scenting a late drivers’ championship charge, with Verstappen not having won for seven races and the gap whittled down to 59 points.

Verstappen failed to make the top 10 in qualifying 12 months ago, eventually finishing fifth, and he has never won on the tight city-centre circuit giving Norris a golden opportunity to reduce the deficit further.

Red Bull traditionally struggle in Singapore where tropical storms, intense humidity, concrete barriers, safety cars and red flags are ever-present dangers.

Sergio Perez did win in Singapore in 2022 but that was Red Bull’s only victory here since Sebastian Vettel in 2013.