After his battling performance to grab a podium finish behind the Red Bulls in Italy, Sainz has once again ended Friday quickest having edged ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc by 0.018s in second practice in Singapore.
Meanwhile the dominant Red Bull squad had a low-key Friday, its misbehaving RB19 struggling with oversteer to leave Sergio Perez seventh and Max Verstappen eighth in FP2.
That saw George Russell push his Mercedes to third ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso late in the session, with the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in fifth.
Lando Norris, with the upgraded McLaren, took sixth at the end of Friday’s running in front of both Red Bulls, as Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) rounded out the top 10.
Off the track, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has been given a written warning by the FIA for discriminatory remarks made about Perez.
Qualifying for the Singapore GP starts at 9pm local time (2pm BST), using the regular Q1, Q2 and Q3 knockout session format.
Date: Saturday 16 September 2023
Start time: 9pm local time – 2pm BST