Williams’ Alex Albon declared himself fit to race in the Singapore Grand Prix after completing practice on his first day on track after a medical emergency.
Albon said: “It was on the limit, but if I think I am able to do it, then I want to be in. And now I know I am.”
Albon was 16th fastest, 1.4 seconds faster than team-mate Nicholas Latifi.
The pace was set by Carlos Sainz, who led team-mate Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth.
Albon, speaking exclusively to BBC Sport after practice, said: “I would be lying if I said it was easy but luckily I have experience here before in 2019 [with Red Bull] and I don’t feel like I’m far away from where I was on Friday in 2019.
“That’s a long time ago but it’s OK. It’s just what I expected it to be – my feelings in terms of strength and general fitness are OK but it’s hot here and it’s hard work.”
Albon, 26, said his body was still weaker than normal because he was “still recovering from the normal implications of what I went through”.
He added: “It’s the general fatigue. Every time I was training last week, everything feels harder, the recovery becomes more important.
“I was doing double days but the recovery was really important to make sure I could do the second part of training every day. And it’s the same here.
“You do a session, first practice, and it takes it out of you more than it does normally – it feels more like a half-race stint than a 10-lap stint. You have to recover for P2. You have to recover for tomorrow. Fortunately Saturday always tends to be lighter on the load.
“I actually found it easier in P2 than P1, just getting used to it. It’s more when you get out of the car.
“When you’re driving, the adrenaline is going and you’re not really focused on it. But once you get out of the car, I feel like my body reminds me of where I am.”
Albon, who was born in London but races under a Thai licence, said he was under no pressure from Williams to return – they could have employed Mercedes reserve driver Nyck de Vries as a stand-in, as they had in Monza – but that he was always going to try to race in Singapore if he could.
“We’re in an amazing position [as racing drivers],” he said. “We love what we do. I love my job. I love driving. I like going to street tracks and it’s one of them things – if you’re ready to drive, you want to drive.
“You can always go and see. If it was a disaster, there is always a back-up plan, so that was always in mind as well. So at least for now everything’s going smoothly.”
What happened to the frontrunners?
At the front, the leading times were unrepresentative after disrupted days for Verstappen and Leclerc.
The Red Bull driver, who can clinch the title on Sunday if he wins the race and other results go his way, had a delayed start to second practice and completed a total of only seven laps in the session.
Red Bull – at the centre of a controversy over allegations they breached Formula 1’s budget cap last year – made a change to his front suspension between the sessions and it took longer than normal, and when Verstappen went out on track it was immediately apparent that the change had not worked.
The Dutchman said: “There is a lot of room for improvement but it is not the worst day.”
Leclerc’s start in second practice was also delayed by a set-up change, but he was happier with the car when he did make it out on track.
Verstappen in fourth split the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who also failed to demonstrate their full potential because neither managed to string together optimum laps. On the long runs in race trim, Russell was quicker than Sainz’s Ferrari after a handful of laps.
Hamilton, who had been fastest in the first session, said: “Started off well, wasn’t as great in the second session.
“It was pretty much like every other weekend. The car is as it is, bouncing around like crazy. [But it] doesn’t feel like we’re massively off [the pace] this weekend. Still probably a second down, something like that, but just have to keep working at it.
“There is not much we can do with the bouncing, it just is as it is. Set-up wise, George was able to find a bit more time. On my side, I just didn’t get a clear lap. With the set-up I had, I had a lot of locking but we will fix it overnight.
“The biggest problem is not the physicality [in the heat and humidity], it is that you are bouncing so much that you have a headache all the time.
“I am hoping we can be P5/P4 [in qualifying], something like that. If we get any higher that will be amazing.”
Not only did he not get out until about half an hour in, but he then did only one flying lap before spending another long period in the pits, emerging only for two more relevant laps.
Behind the Mercedes drivers, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was sixth fastest, the team pleased with a floor upgrade that they believe is a significant step forward, ahead of the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas and the second Alpine of Fernando Alonso.
Alonso was another to lose track time, in his case because of a gearbox oil leak that forced him to spend the second half of the first session in the garage, but he said: “I think we are in a good place and I’m quite confident for tomorrow.”
