Kimi Raikkonen put Ferrari on top in second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, just 0.011s clear of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes as Sebastian Vettel hit the wall.
The bulk of the field set their fastest times during their qualifying simulations on the hypersoft compound tyre mid-way through the session.
Valtteri Bottas was the first of the front runners to set a lap, although was quickly displaced by team-mate Hamilton by over 0.6 of a second.
Raikkonen then pipped the Briton to the top spot shortly after, while the two FP1 leading Red Bulls – led by Max Verstappen – slotted in behind Hamilton but ahead of Bottas in third and fourth.
Sebastian Vettel could only manage ninth quickest as he was forced to abandon his fastest lap when he slammed the wall on the exit of Turn 21.
The German immediately pulled into pit lane to have his SF71H checked over, with a subsequent coolant leak forcing him to remain in the garage for the rest of the session.
Vettel wasn’t the only one to have problems though, as championship rival Hamilton ran off the circuit several times during the session.
He was forced to head down the Turn 14 escape road early on after locking up behind Vettel, before later locking his front-right wheel into Turn 1, and running across the run-off as a result.
Renault led the midfield battle once again as Carlos Sainz Jr posted the sixth fastest time, a second-and-a-half slower than Raikkonen’s benchmark.
Romain Grosjean slotted his Haas into seventh position, just ahead of an encouraging eighth for Fernando Alonso and McLaren – the Spaniard lapping less than two-tenths slower than Sainz’s Renault.
Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten behind Vettel in the second Renault.
Sauber’s eventful Friday continued in FP2 after Marcus Ericsson looped his Swiss machine in the closing minutes of the session, although he was able to continue without damage to ultimately the 12th fastest time, two positions ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc.
