George Russell was fastest from Charles Leclerc in the only Singapore practice session ahead of Sprint Qualifying later on Friday.
Russell, who will start at the back of the grid for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix due to a power unit change, was 0.198s quicker than Ferrari’s Leclerc as Mercedes look to bounce back from their “worst weekend of the season” in Malaysia, according to team boss Toto Wolff.
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was over one second off the pace in seventh but did not run the soft tyres and made a mistake at the end of practice.
Mercedes have decided to revert to the pre-Malaysia car with Russell, so he does not carry the big upgrade package from last time out while Antonelli has kept the new parts, plus a new front wing.
The hot, dusty conditions make practice largely unrepresentative but it will be fascinating to see if Russell has the upper hand on pace over Antonelli in Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon at 1.30pm (build-up from 1pm), live on Sky Sports F1 and Main Event.
McLaren’s Lando Norris has scored just two points from the last two race weekends, partly due to a straight-line speed issue which McLaren think they have resolved, and he appears to be back in the fight at the front at just 0.273s adrift of pacesetter Russell.
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Lewis Hamilton was half a second behind in fourth on a track Ferrari should be competitive at due to the lack of straights at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in fifth.
Last week’s race winner Max Verstappen was only sixth but Red Bull elected to not run the softs and the Dutchman was the fastest driver on the mediums.
Singapore is the only track, apart from Madrid which joined the calendar this year, which Verstappen has not taken a pole position or win at in his F1 career.
Isack Hadjar was eighth in the other Red Bull while Alpine and Racing Bulls look set to continue their fight for the final points-paying positions with Pierre Gasly in ninth and Liam Lawson in 10th.
Despite the close proximity of the barriers, there were few incidents aside from Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg losing drive and causing a brief Virtual Safety Car when he stopped at the pit exit.
Sky Sports F1’s live Singapore GP Sprint weekend schedule
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Friday October 9
11.30am: Team Bosses’ Press Conference
1pm: Singapore GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 1.30pm)*
Saturday October 10
9am: Singapore GP Sprint build-up*
10am: Singapore GP SPRINT*
1pm: Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
2pm: SINGAPORE GP QUALIFYING*
4pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday October 11
11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore GP build-up
1pm: THE SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
3pm: Chequered Flag: Singapore GP reaction
4pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Singapore for the last Sprint weekend of the season with Sunday’s Grand Prix at 1pm (build-up from 11.30am) live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime