George Russell finished fastest in the only free practice session at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix, but Max Verstappen was half a second quicker than anyone else on average tires.
It was the only non-competitive race of the sprint weekend in Singapore, although it took place in unrepresentative conditions – track temperature of 53°C – regarding the upcoming qualifying sessions and the main race, which will take place at night.
So everyone rushed out onto the track when the light turned green at the pit lane exit, with all cars except the Cadillacs on hard tires, and started chasing the limits.
On the white-walled compound, Kimi Antonelli set the pace with a time of 1:33.830, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.034 seconds and Mercedes teammate Russell by 0.056 seconds. Isack Hadjar finished fourth, after complaining that his Red Bull was bottoming out too much, particularly in braking zones, and that his accelerator pedal was slippery. Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton followed 0.6 seconds behind the benchmark.
Everyone else was more than a second down, starting with midfield leader Nico Hulkenberg for Audi. Verstappen was ninth, followed by Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso; Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon were still a few tenths behind.
But Hülkenberg stopped on the main straight with 20 minutes to go, saying on the radio: “Something serious happened with the gearbox. » He was dragged into the pit lane while the virtual safety car neutralized the session.
The cars continued to run on hard tires, with Lawson jumping to ninth ahead of Verstappen, until softer tires were fitted for the final 15 minutes of the session.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images
Despite using the old Mercedes specification, Russell was by far the fastest on the soft tyres, clocking a time of 1m32.274s. That was two tenths quicker than Leclerc and Norris, while Hamilton and Piastri were half a second behind. They were the only five drivers to run on soft compound, with the exception of the Cadillac drivers, who upheld the order.
Verstappen led the medium tires into sixth with a time of 1m33.006s, half a second quicker than championship leader Antonelli, who hit the exit road of Turn 16 on his final flying lap. Hadjar was seven tenths slower than his Red Bull teammate.
Also on medium tires, Gasly led the midfield for Alpine in 1m34.038s, with Racing Bulls’ Lawson a tenth and Haas’ Oliver Bearman three tenths behind. Aston Martin, Williams and Audi were tied, albeit further down the order – but the green team’s progress was entirely down to Alonso, given Lance Stroll was struggling with his brakes.
Singapore F1 GP FP1 Results
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