The unusual collision occurred when Leclerc was released from the Ferrari garage into the path of Norris’ McLaren as teams returned to the track following a red flag. The contact damaged Norris’ front wing, forcing him to be wheeled back into the garage for repairs.
The FIA stewards held Ferrari responsible, citing a misjudgement by the team member responsible for the safe release of Leclerc.
“Car 16 (LEC) was initially instructed by a team member to leave his pitbox. At that moment however, it was overlooked that car 4 (NOR) was already passing in the fast lane, approaching the Ferrari pitbox and directly into the path of LEC,” the decision document stated.
“The team member, who was responsible for the safe conduct of releasing car 16, misjudged the situation and gave unclear instructions to LEC, who could not see NOR’s car. As a result, both cars collided in the fast lane.”
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Leclerc explained the circumstances behind the incident, citing the hectic nature of the session.
“It was a bit of confusion with the two McLarens going out,” he said.
“It looked like they were going out at the same time. So he [his mechanic] thought that they would go out a bit slow, and so I didn’t have the message to stop.
“In these cases, you kind of rely on the team. But these things happen, and it was also in a tricky moment because with all the red flags, everybody was in such a rush to get out to do some laps.
“So, it’s a combination of things. It’s not something you want, but these things happen.”
Norris described the session as “just a difficult day,” only worsened by the pitlane incident.
“I mean it cost the team a bit of money, which is a shame,” he said.
“Just a difficult day for me, not feeling too great with the car, missing all of the feelings that I had here last year.
“Plenty of things to work on. Just a bad day. Oscar’s quick. I’ve got nothing to complain about bar just not doing a very good job.”
Despite the disruptions, Oscar Piastri ended the session on top with a fastest time of 1m30.174s. The Australian noted that the team had focused on medium and soft tyre runs rather than heavy fuel stints, highlighting the importance of qualifying at Marina Bay.
“I think I found my feet on the medium [tyre] at the end there, and then the soft felt good,” Piastri said.
“Obviously not much representative race running, but the car’s been in a good place. I feel like I’ve learned a lot through today, and that’s the aim of practice so it’s been a good day.”
Singapore’s FP2 was further disrupted by two red flags caused by on-track incidents, preventing teams from completing consistent long runs.
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