Ahead of today's second session the air temperature is 28 degrees C while the track temperature is 32 degrees. Humidity is 80% and the circuit is bathed in the artificial light of the floodlights.
As ever, due to the change of conditions for qualifying and the race, the earlier session, like FP3, was unrepresentative. And it is over the next hour that we should get a better idea of the pecking order.
In terms of updates, only two teams have them.
Red Bull has a new Front Wing and Engine Cover. The front wing is an evolution of the design taking further research to increase the camber of some wing sections to extract more load whilst maintaining flow stability, while the enlarged exit from the overall top body is more efficient than opening louvres or creating larger louvres to raise the overall cooling capacity.
Mercedes has a new Front Wing which has been reprofiled and drops the local load to allow an appropriate car balance to be achieved for this circuit.
Alonso was quicker earlier, ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen, with Hamilton and the McLarens right behind.
Though a few drivers brushed the walls the only incident of note was a brake hardware problem for Albon which sidelined him for the whole session.
The pitlane opens but there is no immediate rush to action.
Eventually Hulkenberg heads out, followed by Piastri, Lawson, Colapinto and Gasly. Unlike FP1, when hards were initially the order of the day, this time around it is the mediums that are favoured. That said, Stroll is on hards, as is his teammate.
Hulkenberg's benchmark 33.788 is soon eclipsed by Piastri who crosses the line at 33.424. However, Verstappen responds with as 33.128 and Norris a 32.956.
A 32.883 sees Antonelli go top as Sainz goes sixth ahead of Lawson and Bearman.
As Leclerc goes fourth (33.203) teammate Hamilton goes quickest in S2, subsequently crossing the line at 32.970 to go third.
No soon has Bortoleto taken advantage of one of the circuit's numerous escape roads than Antonelli follows suit at the same corner (Turn 14).
Norris goes top with a 32.226 and Verstappen second, just 0.119s behind.
Bearman does well to keep his car out of the barriers following a big, big slide.
Lawson goes third and Hadjar fourth.
Sainz goes second with a 32.306.
On the hards, Alonso is currently eighth and his teammate eleventh.
As Alonso improves to second with a 32.253 - 0.027s off Norris' pace - Bearman heads out on softs.
Quickest in the final two sectors, Piastri goes top with a 31.716.
Hamilton goes second (31.834) but is demoted when Norris goes second with a 31.723, 0.007s off Piastri's pace.
Russell has lost his front wing at Turn 16. He heads back to the pits, his left front tyre punctured.
The session is red-flagged as the resultant debris is cleared from the track and the safety barrier moved back into position.
"That was weird," he says as he appeared to carry too much speed into the corner.
The session resumes with 31 minutes remaining, but Russell will play no further part in it.
Leclerc is first out, followed by Hamilton, Bearman, Ocon and Gasly. Strangely, the Ferraris are on the mediums.
Leclerc improves to fourth with a 31.985 while Hamilton goes top with a 31.491.
However, on the softs, Ocon responds with a 31.480 and Bearman a 31.711.
Oh dear, Lawson has hit the wall at Turn 17, losing the car at the exit and incurring a lot of damage to the front of the RB. He comes to rest at the entrance to the pitlane.
"I hit the wall, bro," he admits.
Once again the session is red-flagged.
As the damaged RB is craned away the clock is still ticking, the drivers losing valuable track time.
"FP1 was challenging," says Russell, "but in those early laps I had a better feel for the car to be honest.
"It's not been our best Friday by a long way," he admits. "But I'm not too concerned. An early bath for me, onto tomorrow."
Ahead of the restart the cameras pick up on the upper element on Verstappen's front wing, it is almost vertical.
Oh dear, Leclerc hits Norris in the pitlane, pushing the McLaren into the pit wall and damaging the front wing.
"He drove straight into me," says Norris as it is confirmed that Leclerc will be investigated for an unsafe release.
Nonetheless the session continues, albeit with 11 minutes remaining.
PBs in all three sectors see Hadjar go top with a 31.440.
Understandably, softs are now the order of the day.
Albon goes ninth as Alonso goes top with a 30.877.
However, Verstappen responds with a 30.857, 0.020s up on the Spaniard.
Stroll goes third with a 31.389 and Leclerc fifth (31.466).
Another trip down an escape road for Bortoleto and Mattia Binotto does not look impressed.
A 30.714 sees Piastri go quickest, 0.143s up on Verstappen as Tsunoda goes ninth.
Bortoleto improves to fifteenth, but he is clearly struggling with the Sauber. Teammate Hulkenberg almost does a Lawson.
Norris improves to fourth as Ocon goes fifth, the track clearly still evolving.
Indeed, Hadjar goes second with a 30.846, as Stroll improves to sixth having gone quickest in S3.
Bortoleto unhappy with one of the Alpines as Bearman and Hamilton both have scary moments.
Despite PBs in the opening sectors, Hamilton slows and fails to post a time.
"Before I forget the cooling system know is quite hard to turn," reports Piastri. "I was going to say the knob is quite stiff, but didn't think that appropriate for TV," he adds.
Piastri is quickest, ahead of Hadjar, Verstappen, Alonso, Norris, Stroll, Ocon, Sainz, Leclerc and Hamilton.
Tsunoda is eleventh, ahead of Bearman, Albon, Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Gasly, Lawson, Antonelli, Colapinto and Russell.
Well, all in all that was somewhat chaotic and in many ways we end the day little wiser that when we started.
The McLarens are strong, though Norris appears to lack confidence, and while Verstappen is very much up there - isn't he always - so too are the Ferraris and the Aston Martins.
Having not used the softs in FP1, Russell crashed out before he got to use them in FP2 and with FP3 being unrepresentative he will head into qualifying with little knowledge of the red-banded rubber, while teammate Antonelli also appeared to be struggling.
Indeed, those red flags cost around a third of the running time, of which the drivers need every second they can get on track like this and in these sort of conditions.
Check out our Friday gallery from Marina Bay here.
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