Daniel Ricciardo proved why he is many people’s tip for the victory at the Singapore Grand Prix after leading Practice 1 on Friday.
Under the late afternoon sun at Marina Bay, the aerodynamic prowess of Red Bull shone as the Australian led with a 1m39.711s, two-tenths clear of teammate Max Verstappen in second.
Ferrari are right behind, however, with Singapore specialist Sebastian Vettel within the same tenth as Verstappen in third, half a second clear of Kimi Raikkonen, with the Finn taking a trip down the escape road at Turn 18 during his fastest run.
Renault not only led the midfield teams but had Nico Hulkenberg ahead of both Mercedes’ in fifth as he starts his 150th Grand Prix weekend with Lewis Hamilton 1.5 seconds off Ricciardo in sixth.
Carlos Sainz showed skills more akin to his father with a slide close to the wall exiting Turn 19 but would still finish seventh ahead of Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes used the Soft compound tyre in the unrepresentative session.
On his first trip to Marina Bay, Charles Leclerc was the only driver to hit the barrier, doing so on the exit of the Anderson Bridge in the closing moments, but the Monegasque would still finish ninth for Sauber with Romain Grosjean completing the top 10 for Haas.
With the circuit very dusty, as would be expected in the first session, and in the daylight with track temperatures much higher than will be expected under the lights, most teams kept running to a minimum with a number of runs just to get a feel for setup and allow the drivers to find their feet.
In addition to Leclerc, some overstepped the limit with Bottas and Lance Stroll both spinning on the tricky exit kerb of Turn 1 which leads the drivers straight into Turn 3.
The Finn would also take to the escape road at Turn 14 in a tricky session but happily for Mercedes no harm was done.
Fernando Alonso, who finished almost three seconds off the pace in 14th, also reported a loss of power in his McLaren which will concern the British team at a race they hope to be more competitive at.
Another team hoping for a strong result is Toro Rosso, however, Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley were left in 16th and 17th respectively as they joined Mercedes and several others in only using the Ultrasoft tyre.
After two circuits which very much suit their car, the streets of Singapore aren’t ideal for Force India and that was highlighted by Sergio Perez in 12th with Esteban Ocon surprisingly seven-tenths down on his teammate in 15th.
A full look at the practice results can be seen below:
