Ricciardo leads one-two, seven tenths clear of Mercedes; Vettel hits wall and finishes only 11th as favourites Ferrari make stuttering start
Saturday 30 September 2017 08:43, UK
Red Bull left Mercedes and Ferrari trailing as Daniel Ricciardo led an unexpectedly dominant one-two for the team in second practice at the Singapore GP.
Lewis Hamilton was third and 0.7s off the pace for Mercedes, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel only 11th after hitting the barriers around the floodlit circuit.
Friday's track action had appeared set to be completely overshadowed by the sequence of engine-related announcements made between the two practice sessions at Marina Bay.
However, while the off-track news had been expected, Red Bull's big advantage over 2017's two title-contending teams came as a surprise with Ricciardo in particular excelling around the twisty circuit.
The Australian's 1:40.852 time was not only a lap record but 0.5s faster than team-mate Max Verstappen, who hit the barriers while attempting to close the gap. Ricciardo's race pace in the later long runs also caught the eye.
"I expected this," said Ricciardo, runner up in Singapore in each of the last two years. "I have a lot of faith we can stay here all weekend."
Sky F1's Paul Di Resta said of Ricciardo's long-run pace: "That's surprisingly good. It's a long way up the road. If they can get on the front row, you've got to say he's the favourite."
Mercedes have braced themselves for a difficult weekend and although Hamilton posted the third-quickest time, it was a long way adrift of the lead Red Bull. However, the championship leader's race pace was more competitive.
Team-mate Valtteri Bottas struggled throughout, though, and was 0.5s behind Hamilton in fourth place.
Ferrari were most pundits' pre-weekend favourites but they lapped even further off the pace and finished down in ninth and 11th positions.
Vettel was the only driver to finish without a fast lap time on the ultrasoft tyres, although the German was already 0.4s adrift of Ricciardo's pace before encountering traffic in the final sector of what would have been his best lap.
He then damaged his Ferrari by side-swiping the barriers at Turn 10, although he was able to complete the heavy-fuel race runs as planned.
Both Ferraris finished behind one Renault, two McLarens and one Force India with Nico Hulkenberg the pick of the bunch in fifth place.
Fresh from finally announcing they are splitting with Honda at the end of the season, McLaren enjoyed their most competitive Friday since the similarly high-downforce Hungaroring with Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso sixth and seventh respectively.
The McLaren pair finished close behind Hulkenberg, whose Renault engine the Woking team will now run next season.
