F1 Singapore GP: George Russell on top, Max Verstappen sets impressive lap

George Russell finished fastest in the only free practice session of Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix, but Max Verstappen was half a second quicker than anyone on medium tyres.

This was the only non-competitive running on the sprint Singapore weekend, albeit held in unrepresentative conditions – 53C track temperature – with regards to both upcoming qualifying sessions and the main race, which will be held at night.

Everyone therefore rushed out on track when the light went green at the end of the pitlane, with all cars but the Cadillacs on hard tyres, and started chasing the limits.

With the white-walled compound, Kimi Antonelli set the pace with a time of 1m33.830s, outpacing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.034s and Mercedes team-mate Russell by 0.056s. Isack Hadjar was fourth, having complained that his Red Bull bottomed too much, especially in braking zones, and that his throttle pedal was slippery. Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton followed within 0.6s of the benchmark.

Everyone else was more than a second down, starting with midfield leader Nico Hulkenberg for Audi. Verstappen was down in ninth, followed by Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso; Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon were another couple of tenths adrift.

But Hulkenberg stopped on the main straight with 20 minutes to go, indicating on the radio: “Something bad happened on the gearbox.” He was pulled into the pitlane while the virtual safety car neutralised the session.

Cars kept lapping on hard tyres, with Lawson jumping to ninth ahead of Verstappen, until softer rubber was fitted on for the last 15 minutes of the session.

Despite running the older Mercedes specification, Russell was fastest by far on soft tyres, setting a 1m32.274s. This was two tenths faster than Leclerc and Norris, while Hamilton and Piastri were half a second adrift. They were the only five drivers to run the soft compound, except the Cadillac racers, who propped up the order.

Verstappen led the medium-tyre running in sixth with a 1m33.006s, half a second faster than championship leader Antonelli, who ran into the Turn 16 escape road on his final flying lap. Hadjar was seven tenths slower than his Red Bull team-mate.

Also on medium tyres, Gasly led the midfield for Alpine on a 1m34.038s, with Racing Bulls’ Lawson one tenth down and Haas’ Oliver Bearman three tenths adrift. Aston Martin, Williams and Audi were closely matched, albeit further down the order – but the green squad’s progress was entirely down to Alonso.

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– The Motorsport.com Team

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