Singapore GP FP1: Lewis Hamilton fastest in first practice session as F1 world returns to Singapore

Lewis Hamilton tops the timing sheets in free practice one on Friday in Singapore. The British driver clocked a time of 1:43.033 in the session’s final minutes, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Verstappen, looking for his 2nd world driver championship title, finished in P2 after leading most of the Friday practice session.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded up the top 3, trailing 0.402 seconds behind Hamilton. However, Leclerc’s first session running was marred by brake problems as soon as he left the pits in the opening laps. The Monegasque driver reported problems on his out lap and had to return to the pits immediately afterwards, where he remained stationary for 25 minutes before being sent out again. Sergio Perez posted the 4th fastest time ahead of Mercedes George Russell, who seemed to be struggling with pace in the opening practice session. He was 1.033 seconds behind Hamilton after the conclusion of the session. Carlos Sainz finished P6.

Alpine showed a strong pace advantage compared to their P4 constructor’s rivals, Mclaren. Both Estaban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were running new floors for this weekend and finished the session at P7 and P10, respectively. In contrast, McLaren’s Lando Norris, who was running with new sidepods and floor upgrades, finished P19, way off the pace of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo who finished in P12. Norris voiced his concern after the end of the session, saying that McLaren is in no way near the pace of Alpine at the moment.

William’s Alex Albon returned to the grid this weekend after missing the Italian GP due to appendicitis. The session saw many incidents where drivers had near misses to the wall. Two drivers, Mercedes George Russell and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, made contact with the wall, with the latter causing a red flag 25 minutes before the end of the session. Singapore GP returned to the F1 racing calendar after a two years absence due to Covid-19. The first night race of the F1 calendar is always one of the most awaited events of the season.

FP1 Classification