F1 Singapore GP Live Commentary and Updates – FP2

Russell becomes the closest challenger to Albon by moving into second, dislodging Tsunoda. As we approach one third distance in the session, at what point will teams consider shifting onto the soft tyre for some qualifying simulations?

Verstappen isn't doing a great deal better than Perez at this stage. The championship leader is 14th, having just gone over the kerbs at Turn 7. That would constitute a lap deletion if this were in qualifying.

There's currently a 2.8s spread between Albon at the front of the pack and Bottas at the rear. The Finn is the only man currently slower than 2022 Singapore winner Sergio Perez, who is 19th as things stand in the Red Bull.

But before Leclerc can get comfy atop the times, here comes Albon with a 1m32.238s which puts him three tenths quicker than the Ferrari man.

Leclerc now fires back to the top of the times. F1 drivers are playing an intricate game of by how little a margin they can inch the benchmark lower; the Monegasque beats Sainz by 0.017s.

Ricciardo has now gone quickest, ducking under Leclerc's benchmark on a 1m32.652s. Norris also improves, coming in just a fraction behind him.

Perez has been shown a black and white flag for failing to follow the race director's instructions. He crossed the white line at pit exit when he came around the corner and found an Aston Martin trickling along the round ahead of him - presumably a few ducklings being ushered along in front of the green machine. Or should that be a family of lizards, based on past precedent...

Everybody has now ventured out onto the track, with a mixture of hard and medium compounds bolted on. Softs will enter the chat a little later on in this one-hour session.

Rewinding a little bit to a few hours ago, Charles Leclerc topped the FP1 times ahead of Lando Norris for McLaren. How much of that should be attributed to the new front wing brought to Singapore by the Italian team, only its engineers will be able to say. Click here for more on what has changed and why. 

With all the chatter about rear wings and swearing, let's not forget that F1 cars will be back on track in a little over five minutes' time for second practice at the Marina Bay circuit. This time, they'll be under the lights in conditions far more representative of those that will be encountered during qualifying and the race.

This follows comments from McLaren chief designer Rob Marshall earlier today that made clear other teams are also under scrutiny. You can read what he had to say here.

Returning to the topic of McLaren's rear wing, it has issued the following statement: "Whilst our Baku rear wing complies with the regulations and pass all FIA deflection tests, McLaren have proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to the wing following our conversations with the FIA. We would also expect the FIA to have similar conversations with other teams in relation to the compliance of their rear wings."

Swearing was already on the agenda this weekend before Verstappen's sanction, following an exclusive interview with Autosport given by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in which he revealed that a request has been lodged with FOM to limit the communication of bad language. Ben Hunt says that while the topic has generated plenty of chatter in the paddock, there are far bigger issues to address.

Hello and welcome to Autosport's live text coverage of second practice from the Singapore Grand Prix. Thank you for joining us - now let's take a look over some of the headlines over the past few hours.