SINGAPORE GP – Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two by eight hundredths in first practice
Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, the Monacan set a 33.350 to go nearly eight hundredths faster than his teammate Carlos Sainz. However the late afternoon session is not the most important given the race is a full night race, although the new layout saw the times nearly ten seconds faster than FP1 last year.
Max Verstappen put his Red Bull third, the two-time champion half a tenth behind Sainz however the top three drivers all set their fastest laps on the slowest hard tyre. While Red Bull and Verstappen go into this weekend looking to continue their domination of 2023, they have admitted the uniqueness of Marina Bay makes this the hardest to win.
However, the Dutchman’s common complaint about oversteer wasn’t far away but there was no major dramas on track, though the local wildlife tried to join the action.
Verstappen referred to an especially large one as “Godzilla”. When he spotted the first one this year, he said that it was smaller than that one. His race engineer Giampiero Lambiase responded: “Maybe Godzilla had a baby.”
Lando Norris was fourth, at this early phase in the weekend the team’s latest upgrades appear to have delivered a similar step to Spielberg. Norris a tenth and three-quarters behind Leclerc and ahead of both Mercedes by nearly two tenths. Lewis Hamilton was fifth ahead of teammate George Russell by a tenth and a half.
Russell was however left frustrated by Sergio Perez, the Mercedes driver coming across the slow moving Red Bull on his hot lap. Perez was seventh three hundredths behind Russell, with the second Red Bull two and a half tenths ahead of Fernando Alonso. With the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounding out the top ten.
Being a street circuit track evolution is key, with times improving by eight seconds that will improve further in the night session times will also be quicker thanks to a revised layout. Leclerc session topping time was ten seconds faster than FP1 last year, as thee track rubbers in and night falls times are expected to drop further.
Many teams using FP1 as a test session, and McLaren having the biggest upgrades on Norris’s car, but this isn’t the traditional place to bring upgrades. However it was a low-key afternoon for Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri in nineteenth he will not have the upgrades until Suzuka next weekend, two seconds off the pace.
Lance Stroll was eleventh seven hundredths ahead of Pierre Gasly, with the Canadian splitting the two Alpines. Alex Albon is thirteenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen, the Williams driver around where the team are expected to be at a street circuit. Liam Lawson continues to sub for Daniel Ricciardo, he was sixteenth going nearly three-quarters of a tenth behind Magnussen and ahead of the second Haas of Nico Hulkenberg by nearly a tenth.
Guanyu Zhou was eighteenth ahead of Piastri and Logan Sargeant rounding out the field.
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