Lewis Hamilton pipped Max Verstappen to finish fastest in Practice 1 at the Singapore Grand Prix.
On the weekend he can claim his second Formula 1 title, the Dutchman had been comfortably quickest for much of the opening hour of action around Marina Bay.
But a later switch to soft tyres enabled Hamilton to surprise many as he put Mercedes at the top of the timesheet, just 0.084s ahead of Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver though was among the earliest drivers to do his lap on the red-striped compound, just before a red flag was shown after Lance Stroll tagged the wall at Turn 5.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 30, 2022
The session has been red-flagged as Lance Stroll stops the car at the Turn 7 escape road
Replays show Stroll hits the wall at Turn 5! 😲#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Ed6K7mnyT8
Charles Leclerc recovered from a brake issue on his first lap of the session to finish four-tenths back in third for Ferrari.
Sergio Perez was fourth, ahead of George Russell, who emerged unscathed from a bump against the barrier at Turn 11 early on.
Carlos Sainz struggled with setup on his Ferrari in sixth, narrowly avoiding a crash twice at Turn 5 and Turn 23.
CARLOS 🤯
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 30, 2022
The Spaniard is just defying all the odds in Singapore at the moment, pushing incredibly hard!!! 😅😅😅#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/euaOde6lDX
Esteban Ocon led the midfield in seventh for Alpine, just ahead of Stroll despite his session-ending incident with 20 minutes to go.
A late improvement jumped Pierre Gasly up to ninth, as Fernando Alonso, who ran second for a while, dropped to 10th by the chequered flag due to a potential gearbox issue.
Further down, McLaren had a steady start with Daniel Ricciardo 12th and Lando Norris down in 19th as he evaluated a significant upgrade to the MCL36.
Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher all significantly trailed their teammates as they got their first taste of Singapore's challenging streets.
Ride onboard with @alex_albon upon our return to the magical Marina Bay Street Circuit ✨🇸🇬#SingaporeGP #F1 @WilliamsRacing pic.twitter.com/9Z3mEleHM3
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 30, 2022
Alex Albon was 16th for Williams on a solid return to the track after suffering complications following surgery for appendicitis during the Italian GP weekend.
But with no obvious fitness issues, the Briton appears to be fine to complete the full race weekend.
Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below:
FINAL CLASSIFICATION 🏁
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 30, 2022
Lewis Hamilton sets the pace in FP1! 🙌#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/RKIuXCUb3N
