McLaren seize early edge over Red Bull in free practice

YESTERDAY'S free practice sessions in Singapore offered a fascinating glimpse into the balance of power between McLaren and Red Bull, with both teams pushing their cars to the limit around Marina Bay’s unforgiving walls.

- JEHRAN NAIDOO

The tight corners and searing heat of this iconic street circuit make tyre management a critical factor, and early signs suggest the battle for supremacy will hinge as much on strategy as on outright pace.

In FP1, McLaren showed steady progress without fully lighting up the timesheets. Oscar Piastri slotted into fifth, just a thousandth of a second behind Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, while Lando Norris followed closely in sixth.

Red Bull, meanwhile, had Max Verstappen in third with a 1:31.392, just a couple of tenths off Fernando Alonso’s session-leading Aston Martin. Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten in ninth.

The gap between McLaren and Red Bull wasn’t vast, but Verstappen held the early edge in consistency. The real shift came in FP2, when McLaren switched to softer tyres for qualifying-style runs.