Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso clocked the fastest time during the opening practice session for Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Alonso moved to the front of the daytime one-hour session around the Marina Bay Street Circuit with a time of 1:31.116s, which put him 0.150s clear of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, who has never won around the streets of Singapore, was third-fastest, with Lewis Hamilton fourth for Ferrari.
McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were fifth and sixth respectively, with Piastri gaining ground after a scrappy first run in which he complained of understeer before encountering a slow Hamilton through Turn 1.
Isack Hadjar was seventh for Racing Bulls, ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, and Haas’ Esteban Ocon, in a session which lacked any major drama aside from an early brake issue for Alex Albon.
Albon sat out the majority of the session after a hardware problem on his rear brakes arose as he returned from only his second installation lap.
The Williams FW47 briefly caught fire as he returned to the pit lane with plumes of smoke emanating from the brakes, though Williams’ mechanics were swiftly able to tend to the situation.
Williams is hopeful that the issue can be repaired in time for Albon to resume running for FP2.
Mercedes finished outside of the top half of the pecking order, with George Russell 11th and Kimi Antonelli 14th, though neither driver ran the Soft tyre.
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