Stoffel Vandoorne was feeling positive after ending the second practice session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit with the sixth fastest time, despite this being the Belgian’s first experience of the Singapore circuit this weekend.
The McLaren-Honda Formula 1 Team racer, who learned earlier in the day that his team will be switching from Honda to Renault power in 2018, used the early stages of the first session to get to grips with the track, and quickly found his feet, finishing eleventh fastest in that session before improving significantly in the second.
Vandoorne expects the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to resume their position ahead of McLaren on Saturday, particularly during qualifying, but despite this he hopes to progress through to the top ten shoot-out for a second consecutive race weekend.
“For me, it’s been a very positive Friday, finishing sixth in FP2 despite having never driven around here before,” said Vandoorne. “I was discovering this track for the first time during FP1, and I got to grips with it quite quickly today.
“On paper, it looks like it’s been a particularly good day, but the two Ferraris didn’t appear to have an ideal session and ended FP2 behind us. They probably have something more in hand for tomorrow, but hopefully, we can still translate today’s pace into qualifying tomorrow.”
