Piastri back on top in eventful Singapore practice

Championship leader Oscar Piastri put McLaren back on top of the timesheets at the Singapore Grand Prix in an eventful second practice session disrupted by three accidents on Friday night.

The session was first stopped when George Russell slammed his Mercedes into the trackside wall, leaving most of the front end of his car strewn across the track and bringing out the red flags for a lengthy delay.

After a brief resumption, the flags were out again when Liam Lawson caught a trackside wall with one of the rear tyres on his Racing Bulls car and failed in his attempt to get back to the pit lane on three wheels.

Lando Norris was trying to get back out as quickly as possible when the teams were cleared to drive again but Ferrari sent out Charles Leclerc at the same time and he knocked the Englishman's McLaren into the pit lane wall.

Ferrari were later fined $10,000 by race officials for an "unsafe release".

Piastri, who had a race to forget last time out in Azerbaijan, managed to avoid any incident and nailed the fastest lap of the day in one minute 30.714 seconds late in the final session.

"I think it's been a good start," said the Australian. "The pace was solid, and I learned quite a lot, which was the main thing for today."

Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar was second fastest in 1:30.846 with world champion Max Verstappen posting the third quickest time of 1:30.857 in his Red Bull.

The Dutchman has won the last two rounds of the championship to revive hopes of a fifth straight world title, even if he stands 69 points behind Piastri with seven races remaining.

"It was not too bad," said Verstappen. "Quite satisfied but definitely need a bit more pace to fight up at the front tomorrow."

Between Piastri and Verstappen in the drivers' standings is Norris, who was only able to manage the fifth fastest time (1:31.197) behind Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso (1:30.877).

Alonso topped the times in first practice earlier on Friday and was joined towards the top of the field in the second session by Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll, who was sixth quickest.

"I think both sessions in the top four, probably it's our best Friday so far," said the 44-year-old, the winner of the inaugural Formula One race in Singapore in 2008.

Carlos Sainz, who won in Singapore in 2023 and put his Williams on the podium two weeks ago in Baku, was eighth fastest ahead of his former Ferrari teammate Leclerc and the man who replaced him at the Italian team, Lewis Hamilton.

Sainz's current teammate Alex Albon, who failed to post a time in the opening session after his rear brakes caught alight forcing him back to the pit lane, managed 19 laps and the 13th quickest time in the second session.

Despite the FIA having invoked its "heat hazard" regulation for the first time for Sunday's race, both sessions were conducted in relatively mild conditions by Singapore standards.

Mercedes were off the pace all day with Russell bottom of the timesheets after managing only six laps before his shunt in the second session and Italian Kimi Antonelli 18th.

"It was a bit of a weird one, to be honest," Russell said.

"I'm not too sure what happened. I braked a bit earlier, went in a little bit slower, then just lost the rear ... I'm sorry to the team for that, but better today than tomorrow."