F1 News: Mercedes Director Pinpoints Ferrari, McLaren And Aston Martin As Main Singapore GP Rivals

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin claims that the data from FP1 and FP2 shows Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin as the main competition for the Singapore GP.

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has predicted an "exciting" qualifying session tomorrow with the grid "clearly very close". Shovlin pinpoints Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin as the current main rivals for the team, however, is not discounting Red Bull despite their difficult day. 

Both Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, topped the timesheets in FP1 and FP2. Lewis Hamilton put in the fifth fastest times in both sessions, whereas, George Russell was sixth and third fastest in FP1 and FP2, respectively.

Interestingly, Max Verstappen was third-fastest in FP1 and eighth fastest in FP2. Sergio Perez was seventh fastest in both FP1 and FP2.

During the teams review of the day, Shovlin explained:

"We've had solid sessions today and both drivers have finished the day happy with the balance. There's a bit of work we need to do to understand how to approach the single lap on the Soft tyre; it didn't feel like we were getting the most out of the compound and George was able to improve later in the run. 

"The long run was quite strong. It's always tough keeping the heat out of the rear tyres here but we look to be more or less on the pace. The performance order is interesting today. Ferrari looked fast, as do McLaren and Aston Martin and unusually Red Bull didn't look like the ones to beat. 

"We'll assume that they'll sort that out for tomorrow, which is going to mean that a lot of drivers are fighting for the top grid spots. It's clearly very close so we'll be pushing to find every little bit of pace overnight. We're looking forward to an exciting qualifying session tomorrow."