George Russell topped practice at the Singapore Grand Prix, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc 0.198 seconds behind.
A late lap from Leclerc broke up what had been an all-British top three. McLaren’s Lando Norris was third, 0.273 off Russell, and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton fourth, 0.499 back. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the top five, and all five were on soft tyres, BBC Sport reported.
Russell tops the one and only practice session of the weekend
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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the fastest driver on mediums, sixth and 0.732 off the pace. The four-time champion was 0.519 quicker than Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in seventh, also on mediums.
This was the only practice session of the weekend, with sprint qualifying at 13:30 BST, and the split between tyre compounds makes it hard to draw any conclusions about relative pace.
Russell’s fast time won’t count for much on Sunday. He starts the race from the back of the grid, penalised for using too many engine parts after his engine failed while he was running third in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was held in Malaysia.
Russell and Antonelli are also running different car specifications. Russell has reverted to a previous spec, while Antonelli has the new aerodynamic package introduced in Malaysia. It’s Mercedes’ way of getting a better read on whether the upgrade works, after they struggled for pace in Malaysia when they’d expected to take a step forward.
Verstappen took his and Red Bull’s first win of the year at Sepang, and he looked quick at times in the session before tyre strategies diverged. His team-mate Isack Hadjar, also on the medium tyre, was eighth fastest. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson completed the top ten.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso spent a while in the top ten but slipped back late in the session to finish 14th.
