SINGAPORE GP – Fernando Alonso fastest by a tenth and a half from Charles Leclerc in first practice
Fernando Alonso was fastest in the first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, the Spaniard set a 31.116 to put himself a tenth and a half faster than Charles Leclerc. In the unrepresentative session, the Aston Martin driver put himself top in the final minutes of the session with Leclerc going a tenth and a quarter ahead of Max Verstappen.
The two-time champion goes into the weekend admitting 2026 could be his final season in F1, topped a practice session for the first time this year with the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, only fifth and sixth on a track they are expected to dominate. Verstappen was just under a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton, the Ferrari driver pipping Piastri by a thousandth of a second.
Singapore is the only circuit on the F1 calendar the Dutchman has not won at, and Red Bull has generally struggled at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in recent years too. They expect that to continue this season, but if they are competitive this weekend, it would signify that an extraordinary comeback from Verstappen is on the cards but second practice later on Friday will provide a better read of the pecking order.
Added to the unpredictability early on is that the streets of Singapore take time to rubber in with the dirt and dust. This resulted in several lock-ups and moments early on in the session, but drivers kept the cars out of the walls.
Aston Martin are not expected to be in the mix at the front this weekend, but they are looking for a stronger weekend. They are optimistic about a better weekend on a low-speed track that is more suited to their car, which runs more competitively when high levels of downforce are required. The two-time Marina Bay winner and champion is also renowned as a Singapore specialist, and usually excels.
McLaren goes into this weekend with another opportunity to try and wrap up the constructors following a tough weekend in Baku, while Piastri is looking to bounce back after crashing out on the opening lap. The Melbournian was a thousandth behind Hamilton as he went two tenths ahead of teammate Lando Norris.
Piastri leads Norris by twenty-five points with seven races to go heading into the weekend in Singapore, while McLaren is poised to clinch the constructors’ championship on Sunday. The only way they can not tie it up in Singapore is if Mercedes outscore them by thirty-one points or Ferrari do so by thirty-five.
“That felt very understeery,” reported Piastri after initially lapping more than half a second slower than teammate Norris the Australian looking to bounce back from a difficult Azerbaijan weekend that saw his championship lead cut to 25 points
Red Bull are optimistic of a positive weekend after Verstappen’s victories in Monza and Baku leading into this weekend, and were relieved when light rain falling before the session abated by the time the cars went out on a track that had remained dry.
Isack Hadjar had another impressive session, going seventh six hundredths behind Norris. The French-Algerian driver has never driven in Singapore, but he was six hundredths ahead of Carlos Sainz. Sainz would have likely gone faster as Williams opted not to do a soft run, which left him a quarter of a second ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, with Esteban Ocon completing the top ten.
Sainz’s Williams teammate Alex Albon barely completed a lap before his session was ended with a brake fire, reportedly a similar issue to Spielberg which saw him fail to start the race. But Williams are confident they can fix the problem and get him out for FP2. Not a lot lost in terms of relevant track conditions, but a lot lost in terms of getting your eye in on the circuit.”
George Russell missed out on the top ten by a hundredth as the Mercedes driver went six hundredths faster than Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly with his teammate Kimi Antonelli six hundredths behind the Alpine. Liam Lawson was three-quarters of a tenth faster than Ollie Bearman, Gabriel Bortoletto and Lance Stroll.
Franco Colapinto completed the field, the second Alpine was nearly three tenths behind Stroll.