Ferrari finished Friday’s run at the Marina Bay Street Circuit ahead of schedule as Carlos Sainz pipped team-mate Charles Leclerc to a result – despite the latter missing valuable FP2 to technical problems. However, Red Bull and Mercedes had their own sessions compromised for various reasons, leaving Mekies in no doubt that their main rivals will push them all the way as the weekend progresses. WATCH: Ride with Carlos Sainz for Friday’s fastest lap in Singapore It comes two years after F1’s last visit to Singapore, given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, with then-Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel taking victory in the 2019 race ahead of Leclerc. Asked how confident he was of a repeat win this time, Mekies said: “Well, 2019 was a very good memory. It was a tough race at the time with Mercedes and it was really good to put both our cars in there. “It’s a very different picture this year. it will be a three-way race, as it has been in recent games. We expect not only Red Bull but also Mercedes to be in the fight for victory with us this weekend. There is still a long way to go [to go] for a repeat of that performance, but it’s the kind of fight we love.” After Leclerc’s setbacks in FP2, which limited him to 14 laps over the course of an hour, Mekies was also confident that Ferrari can use Saturday’s final practice session wisely to get him into optimal form for qualifying. “On this type of track – like Monaco, like here – you don’t want to lose track time. “Unfortunately, for a number of different reasons, that’s what happened to Charles yesterday – there was nothing he could do about it,” reflected Mekies. READ MORE: Leclerc aims for pole position in Singapore despite ‘very, very difficult’ day “[Charles] he is very experienced now. We will try to play a bit of catch up today with the FP3 programme, a bit more track time for him, hopefully weather permitting. I’m sure by the time qualifying comes and the race comes, he’ll be fully ready.” Leclerc starts the weekend 116 points adrift of championship leader Max Verstappen, while Ferrari look to defend their 35-point lead over Mercedes in the race for P2 in the constructors’ standings. FP2 Highlights: Singapore Grand Prix
