Daniel Ricciardo would post the fastest ever lap around the Marina Bay street circuit as he led Practice 1 for Red Bull at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Australian would post a 1:42.489s on the Ultrasoft tyres to lead the Ferrari and former teammate Sebastian Vettel by a tenth of a second, although with the session taking place in the late afternoon, conditions were not too representative of what they’ll be under the lights in Practice 2.
Max Verstappen backed up the case that Red Bull can be a big thorn in the side of the top two by claiming third, as indications Mercedes face a tough weekend began to emerge with Lewis Hamilton some three-tenths down in fourth, albeit did post his time slightly earlier than the others.
Sergio Perez moved his Force India, which features a striking array of mini-wings along the shark fin for added downforce, up to fifth late on ahead of Valtteri Bottas in sixth, with the Finn struggling to maintain rear grip in his Mercedes as the tyres overheated.
Kimi Raikkonen was over a second behind his teammate in seventh in the second Ferrari, almost matched by Fernando Alonso in eighth, who had a momentary issue with a lack of batter power causing the Spaniard some frustration.
Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat completed top 10 for Renault and Toro Rosso respectively, already highlighting how competitive the midfield will be with four different teams mixed in with the top three heavyweights.
The session was largely uneventful as drivers took it easy while adjusting to the very different car setups and type of track compared to the high-speed thrills of Spa and Monza. The biggest on-track dramas saw a general lack of grip and a few damp spots from earlier rain as many suffered with power sliding out of the slow corners.
Lance Stroll would miss much of the session for Williams after a gearbox issue and the expectations of a tricky weekend for the Grove-based team also seemed legitimate as Felipe Massa was only 14th.
Haas is another team that could have trouble with the high braking demands around Singapore and both featured down the order with Romain Grosjean 15th and Antonio Giovinazzi, replacing Kevin Magnussen, 16th, only three tenths behind the Frenchman as he once again highlighted his strong pace and put his case forward for a 2018 Sauber seat.
Making his F1 race weekend debut was Sean Gelael with Toro Rosso, after testing with the junior Red Bull team both in Bahrain and Hungary. The Indonesian F2 driver wasn’t so competitive some 3.3 seconds slower than Daniil Kvyat but still ahead of the two Saubers.
