The leading two had been split by less than a tenth after Free Practice 1, the margin just 0.058s in Free Practice 2, though their order reversed.

Carlos Sainz was third fastest with Yuki Tsunoda an impressive fourth. Equally impressive was that his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was sixth, just 0.01s slower in the second RB, the pair sandwiching Oscar Piastri.

The second hour of practice in Singapore is arguably the most important.

It is held under lights and is the only running teams get under conditions akin to those they’ll experience in qualifying and the race.

While overtaking is thought to be slightly easier this year with the addition of a fourth DRS zone, track position for the race start is still important.

As such, additional emphasis is placed on qualifying simulations during Free Practice 2, with single lap runs dominating the middle third of the hour.

Unsurprisingly, that left McLaren and Ferrari at the top of the timesheets, Norris from Leclerc, the duo separated by 0.058s.

But curiously, the RB pairing of Tsunoda and Ricciardo were not far away.

That followed on from the strong pace they’d displayed in opening practice, which left them both comfortably inside the top 10 and suggested they may be on for a surprise result come Sunday.

Conversely, Mercedes appeared to be struggling.

While George Russell was seventh, Lewis Hamilton was working hard for little return as he found himself 11th after his qualifying simulation, behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.

Hamilton had been only 12th fastest in the opening hour earlier in the day, almost a second off the pace but still four places better than Russell.

Earlier in the session, Russell’s car had gone into limp mode for a time before his car came to life once more in what was generally an unhappy session for Mercedes.

It wasn’t any better for Verstappen who languished in 15th place, 1.3s away from the pace and half a second back from his Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Perez.

The pair had started the session on the hard tyre, and so were predictably down the order, but their failure to improve as others did was baffling.

Verstappen had completed just a single performance run, suggesting an error or issue on the lap that was otherwise missed – if not, the trouble in the Red Bull camp is even more dire.

Up and down the field there were drivers making contact with the wall; Norris made “heavy” contact at Turn 17 (and was later lucky not to collide with a Sauber), Franco Colapinto brushed the wall, as did Oscar Piastri and Tsunoda, though all were able to continue on in the session with seemingly no damage.

The session concluded with Russell touring back to the pits after nosing into the wall at Turn 8.

He’d simply carried too much speed into the corner, opening the steering so he nosed in once he’d realised his mistake.

It likely saved the front-left corner of the car, and meant he could engage reverse and limp back to the pits – the net cost, aside from that of the front wing, was that he was unable to complete a practice start.

Mercedes though have bigger concerns, with RB looking faster than the squad.

McLaren and Ferrari are clearly the class of the field after the opening day, while Red Bull Racing have a lot of work to do to remedy the maladies affecting Verstappen in particular.

RB is the surprise package, third fastest behind the front two, with Williams, Haas, Mercedes, and Red Bull Racing trailing them in a melting pot of teams fighting for what is left at the bottom end of the top 10.

A final hour of practice remains, set to be held in the afternoon sun, starting from 17:30 local time (19:30 AEST) on Saturday.