George Russell was fastest in practice for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. Mercedes driver set a 32.274, going just under two-tenths faster than Charles Leclerc, and heads into the weekend with another serious dent to his title hopes after his retirement late on Sunday in Sepang.
His retirement from third has forced a power unit change for Russell; the planned engine change has been brought forward, adding another huge setback and a back-of-the-grid start for the Grand Prix. Mercedes has historically found the streets of Singapore difficult.
Leclerc was three-quarters of a tenth ahead of Lando Norris, who split the Ferraris as he went two tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton, while Norris’s McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri was six and a half hundredths behind. The top four were separated by half a second, with Piastri six and a half hundredths further behind, going into sprint qualifying on Friday Evening.
Ferrari and McLaren look back in the mix after struggling last weekend, the latter putting it down to a straight-line speed issue, which they hoped to have resolved, with Norris just under three tenths off Russell.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull sixth as he went over four tenths faster than championship leader Kimi Antonelli. That may cause further concern for Mercedes; Antonelli was running the newer spec car, which appeared to struggle last weekend, and he was over a second off his teammate.
Verstappen had looked fast on his soft run, but once the teams diverged on their run plans found himself shuffled down the order as he finished the session ahead of Antonelli. The championship leader managed to split the Red Bulls as he went just under two tenths faster than Isack Hadjar, but he opted not to run the soft tyre and made a mistake at the end of the session.
Hadjar had complained during the session about his Red Bull bottoming out too much, especially in braking zones, and that his throttle pedal was slippery. While Antonelli aborted h
Mercedes has decided to revert to the pre-Malaysia car with Russell, so he does not carry the big upgrade package from last time out, while Antonelli has kept the new parts, plus a new front wing. The hot, dusty conditions make practice largely unrepresentative, but it will be fascinating to see if Russell has the upper hand on pace over Antonelli in Sprint Qualifying.
The session will also be the first night running of the season after the Sakhir Test back in February, after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix were moved or cancelled due to the war in Iran. The first time since 2020 that the first night race of the season has come this late in the season.
Pierre Gasly put himself best of the midfield as he put his Alpine three tenths behind Hadjar, as he went just over a tenth faster than Liam Lawson. Lawson completed the top ten a quarter of a second faster than Ollie Bearman, who split the Racing Bulls as he was a tenth and a half ahead of Arvid Lindblad.
Lindblad split the Haas duo in return as the Englishman put his Racing Bull five thousandths faster than Esteban Ocon. Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin fourteenth, having been inside the top ten at one stage in the session, but the two-time champion was four tenths outside by the end of the hour.
Alonso was just over a tenth and a half faster than Carlos Sainz, with the second Audi of Nico Hulkenberg eight hundredths behind. The German caused the only incident of note about halfway through when his Audi stopped with a suspected gearbox issue, bringing out a VSC.
Franco Colapinto was nearly two tenths faster than Lance Stroll, with the Cadillac duo completing the field, Sergio Perez three tenths ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. But both were over three seconds off the outright pace.
Conditions will change rapidly heading into Sprint Qualifying as temperatures fall into the evening and the track continues to improve, making it difficult to predict an accurate cut-off time. However, based on these times, Lawson’s 31.155 would have been enough to progress to SQ3, with Bearman missing out by nearly two tenths on SQ3 and Albon by just six hundredths on SQ2.
