Singapore Grand Prix – Red Bull Racing got their weekend off to a flying start by registering a one-two finish in the opening free practice session, with Daniel Ricciardo leading Max Verstappen.
Of the top three teams, only Red Bull and Ferrari utilised the hypersoft tyre, with the Red Bull duo topping the session ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.
Mercedes elected to focus on longer runs and, equipped with the soft-compound tyre – the hardest available this weekend – set the sixth and eighth-fastest times with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas respectively.
They were pipped by the hypersoft-shod Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz, who ended FP1 in fifth and seventh.
Despite numerous lock-ups and near-misses, the only session-ending incident came from the ninth-placed Sauber of Charles Leclerc with just a few minutes of the session to go.
The Monegasque driver struck the barrier on the inside of the right-hand kink over the Anderson Bridge, just before braking for turn thirteen.
He damaged the front-right corner of his car and was forced to pull over and retire the car on-track.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean completed the top ten ahead of the second Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.
One of the trickier corners of the circuit appeared to be turn two, with several drivers running over the kerbs.
Bottas and Williams’ Lance Stroll in particular were caught out; the pair lost the rear of their respective cars after taking too much kerb and spun. However, both were able to continue.
Bottas and Raikkonen also tested the run-off zones and there was also a harmless spin for Force India’s Sergio Perez at the unconventional location of turn twenty.
To view the full results of the session, click here.
