© Vladimir Rys2024 Singapore Grand Prix - Free Practice ReportTough opening day for the Bulls as they struggle for grip around the Marina Bay Circuit
AttheonlytracktheTeamdidn’twinatin2023,bothMaxVerstappenandSergioPérezstruggledtofindastrongsetupfortheirRB20sintwohecticsessionsthatsawFerrariandMcLarendominate.
The Bulls radioed to complain of low grip in both session as they looked for good balance in their cars. Max had to settle for P4 and P15, whist Checo found himself in P14 and P8.
2024 Singapore Grand Prix - Free Practice
Max had to settle for P4 and P15© Getty Images
Both Max and Checo left the garages on fresh medium tyres© Getty Images
Max returned to the pits complaining of understeer in his RB20© Getty Images
Checo ended the day in P8 whilst Max finished in P15© Getty Images
In a frenetic first session of the weekend Max finished in P4 with Checo in P14 after both complained with issues in their RB20s.
With all 20 drivers eager to get out on track to collect data on the new DRS zone, making it 4 different DRS zones around the Marina Bay Circuit this year, the Bulls found themselves on a busy circuit in the opening stint of the session.
Both Max and Checo left the garages on fresh medium tyres. For the Singapore Grand Prix, the tyre compounds used will be C3 for the hards, C4 for the mediums and C5 for the softs – the softest of the Pirelli tyre range.
Max completed two push laps, his second was 1:34.417, which put him provisionally on top of the timesheet. Checo’s time of 1:35.590, placed him P6 at that point. Max returned to the pits complaining of understeer in his RB20, whilst Checo went for a third. Unfortunately for the Mexican, he mistimed his braking point heading into turn 14 and couldn’t turn in, luckily for the Bull, there was some runoff, and he was able to avoid the wall.
As the session reached the halfway point, teams started putting on the red-walled soft tyre to complete a qualification-simulation lap. Max and Checo joined the action and with the track still quite green the cars were squirrelling around and over the curbs. Checo’s single push lap was 1:32.767, placing him only P9 at that point. Max’s lap time was 1:32.097 placing him third on the timesheet.
The pair finished the session with some high fuel, race simulation laps. Max went out on used mediums and Checo on used softs to gather data and see how they will perform in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
At the chequered flag, Max had dropped to P4 and Checo P14. Charles Leclerc finished on top, 0.847s ahead of Max and 1.004s ahead of Checo. Lando Norris was second and Carlos Sainz third.
In the first representative session of the weekend the Bulls struggled to get maximum performance out of the soft tyres. Checo finished in P8 and Max had to settle for P15.
The first session of the weekend under the floodlights saw Max and Checo first out on track on the white-walled hard tyres.
Max completed two push laps, the second of which stopped the clock at 1:33.324, placing him P6, 0.672s behind Daniel Ricciardo who was top at that moment. Max complained over the radio that he had no grip in low speed. He still pushed and went for a third flyer, but went off the track at turn seven. He aborted the rest of the lap and returned to the garage.
Checo set one flying lap, which was 1:34.639, placing him P10. He then returned to his garage briefly before re-joining the track on the same hard tyres. He went for two more push laps. The first was quicker with a time of 1:33.266, placing him P14. After his second run, he radioed that the car was “all over the place,” and returned to the garage once more.
With the session half completed, Max and Checo returned to the action on fresh soft tyres to test the qualifying performance of their RB20s. Max set a time of 1:32.021, placing him P8 at the time, whilst Checo finished his lap in 1:31.598, which saw him in P7. Max went for a second lap, but didn’t improve, whilst Checo went into the pits for a flap adjustment before trying again, he failed to improve as well.
The session ended with the Bulls completing eight high-fuel laps on the hard tyres they had used earlier in the session. Lando Norris finished the day fastest with a time of 1:30.727, 0.827s quicker than Checo and 1.294s quicker than Max. Charles Leclerc was second and Carlos Sainz was third once again.
Checo ended the day in P8 whilst Max finished in P15.
