George Russell has achieved the best record in the only free practice session of the Singapore GP of Formula 1. Despite this, Max Verstappen showed a superior pace warning that he is a serious candidate for pole position, with a time half a second faster than the rest of the drivers on medium tires.
This session, which had no competitive character, was held under non-representative conditions due to the extreme track temperature, which reached up to 53 degrees Celsius. All the drivers immediately went out onto the track when the lights turned green, with most cars, except for the Cadillacs, mounting hard tires.
In the first part of the session, Kimi Antonelli set the pace with a time of 1m33.830s, surpassing Charles Leclerc and George Russell by just over 0.03 and 0.05 seconds, respectively. Isack Hadjar achieved the fourth best mark, despite reporting problems with his Red Bull, while Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton remained close, with a margin of less than 0.6 seconds compared to the initial leader.
In the second half of the session, an incident arose when Nico Hulkenberg stopped on the main straight with 20 minutes remaining, communicating via radio that there was a problem with his gearbox. This led to the neutralization of the session with the virtual safety car.
After the session was reactivated, the drivers continued to run on hard tires until the last 15 minutes, at which point most opted to mount soft tires. Russell demonstrated his pace with a record of 1m32.274s, with Leclerc and Norris two-tenths behind, while Hamilton and Piastri were half a second off his mark.
Max Verstappen completed the practice with a time of 1m33.006s on medium tires, positioning himself as the sixth fastest, half a second ahead of Antonelli, who made an error on his final lap. On the other hand, Pierre Gasly led the midfield group with a record of 1m34.038s, followed by Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman, although Alonso’s Aston Martin situation was limited by Lance Stroll’s difficulties.
Results of the first practice of the Singapore GP
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Tires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’32.274 | Soft |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.198 | Soft |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.273 | Soft |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.499 | Soft |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.564 | Soft |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.732 | Medium |
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_661b653925fd9431483c3b5f0560910f4d34747a