Practice report

F1 Singapore GP: Fernando Alonso tops FP1 ahead of Charles Leclerc

The Spaniard topped the timings in first practice at the Marina Bay Street Circuit

Fernando Alonso opened the Singapore Grand Prix weekend with the fastest time in Formula 1's first free practice session, as the Aston Martin driver finished the session 0.15s clear of Charles Leclerc.

The two-time world champion set a 1m31.116s on soft tyres in the daylight session, eclipsing the Ferrari driver's benchmark on the C5s as Max Verstappen sat a further 0.126s behind.

Low grip track conditions at the start of the session created multiple lock-ups through the early stages as drivers found it difficult to coax their cars into the tighter corners, with a sprinkling of dust obscuring the offline sections of the track.

Alonso led after the opening 15 minutes with a 1m32.592s, as Aston Martin chose to open with medium tyres versus the hard tyres used by other teams.

This was surpassed by Lando Norris' 1m32.493s on the hard compound but, 10 minutes later, Alonso returned to the top with a 1m32.054s. The Spaniard's time at the top was more fleeting on this occasion, as countryman Carlos Sainz bolted on medium tyres to dip below the 92-second mark with a time of 1m31.812s.

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Mohd Rasfan - AFP - Getty Images

In the second half of the hour-long session, a number of drivers began to explore the softer compounds; Leclerc collected a 1m31.266s on his first lap with softs to set a new benchmark.

Norris and Oscar Piastri attempted to overturn this, but both McLaren drives fell short and cycled through the pitlane for a tweak to their front wing angle – Piastri cited an 'understeery' car after his first soft-tyre effort.

Alonso, however, found a 1m31.117s on his opening soft-tyre effort to surpass Leclerc, as neither McLaren nor Verstappen could find an advantage over the Ferrari driver's lap on the C5s. With a follow-up effort on the same set of softs, Alonso found a thousandth of a second on his previous best.

Behind Leclerc and Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest – 0.364s away from his former McLaren team-mate. Piastri lightly touched the wall on his best lap, one-thousandth of a second down on Hamilton, while Norris was sixth fastest.

Isack Hadjar had a prosperous first outing in Singapore and was seventh on the timesheets, ahead of Sainz – who chose not to run the soft tyre through the session. Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10.

Alex Albon suffered a brake fire in the opening 10 minutes of the session, prompting hurried attention from his Williams mechanics as they attempted to stop the smoke pouring out of the rear end.

F1 Singapore GP - FP1 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	23	1'31.116		S	195.179
2	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	25	+0.150 1'31.266	0.150	S	194.858
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	24	+0.276 1'31.392	0.126	S	194.590
4	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	23	+0.364 1'31.480	0.088	S	194.403
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	25	+0.365 1'31.481	0.001	S	194.401
6	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	22	+0.582 1'31.698	0.217	S	193.940
7	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	RB	Honda	28	+0.639 1'31.755	0.057	S	193.820
8	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	27	+0.696 1'31.812	0.057	M	193.700
9	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+0.744 1'31.860	0.048	S	193.598
10	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	24	+1.012 1'32.128	0.268	S	193.035
11	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	22	+1.023 1'32.139	0.011	M	193.012
12	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	29	+1.199 1'32.315	0.176	S	192.644
13	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	26	+1.262 1'32.378	0.063	S	192.513
14	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	24	+1.283 1'32.399	0.021	M	192.469
15	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Honda	27	+1.345 1'32.461	0.062	S	192.340
16	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	25	+1.422 1'32.538	0.077	S	192.180
17	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	27	+1.495 1'32.611	0.073	S	192.029
18	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	18	+1.918 1'33.034	0.423	S	191.155
19	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	26	+2.208 1'33.324	0.290	S	190.561
20	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	2			H
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