F1 returned to the track at Marina Bay for the first time since 2019 and it was Lewis Hamilton who reclaimed the top spot by leading his first session of 2022.
His time of 1min 43.033s by a couple of minutes beat Max Verstappen by 0.084s, with the Dutchman dominating most of the session before the Brit started late.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has already hinted that the team could take a competitive position in Sunday’s race – if the car isn’t too unsettled by the bumps in Marina Bay.
It took Charles Leclerc a long time to set a competitive lap but then the Ferrari man was third, 0.4s behind Hamilton.
Alexander Albon completed 19 laps on his return from medical problems in Italy, with the Thai driver expected to take part in qualifying and the race this weekend.
Lando Norris failed to put up a representative time and finished 19th while Lance Stroll looked strong until he hit the wall and showed a red flag.
Here’s what happened in first practice for the 2022 Singapore GP.
It was the Alfa Romeo pair that did early practice laps on the streets of Singapore, with Valtteri Bottas setting the fastest time at 1min 49.166s.
With all the drivers keen to get out and find their way back on a track that hadn’t been used for three years, normal service resumed very quickly – Max Verstappen topped the top with a 1min 45.466s, over a second quicker than he teammate Sergio Perez, the next next man on the track.
Leclerc struggled with braking problems early on
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Things didn’t go so well for Charles Leclerc, who immediately reported problems with his brakes and came back in after an out-lap. After nearly twenty minutes of the session, he still hadn’t scheduled a time.
With a third of the session ridden, Fernando Alonso, who was closest to the Milton Keynes pair, was initially 1.3s off pace and then climbed to second with a time of 1.1s on Verstappen.
With Leclerc still without a lap, Ferrari’s sole representative was Carlos Sainz, who finished fourth with a time of 1min 45.626s.
However, he wasn’t happy: “It’s very clear what we have to change in the setup, guys,” said the Spaniard over the radio to his team.
Ocon added to Alpine’s impressive form with fifth place but was pushed down halfway through the session by Russell at 1min 45.970s.
Sebastian Vettel then emerged in fourth place, 1.1 seconds off the best time.
While his teammate was 19th, Alex Albon was impressive as he finished in the top ten on his comeback from appendicitis and respiratory failure at Monza. His 1 minute 46.119 seconds put him in seventh place for a time.
Stroll was competitive up until the incident
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“What’s up with the ‘excess torque’,” said a dissatisfied Russell with 25 minutes to go, while Sainz almost hit the wall on another fast lap.
“I had a moment,” he said with some understatement.
Not quite as much as what Lance Stroll was to experience at the exact same spot on the circuit when he crossed the barrier in the 21st minute with a broken left rear suspension.
The Canadian was previously fourth on the timesheets, his promising practice session over.
The session was abandoned to retrieve his Aston Martin as precious short track time was cut further.
Once running picked up again, Albon hit the track straight away and showed no signs of any ill effects from his medical issues.
Sainz had a huge high-speed moment in the final corner, but the Spaniard somehow kept it out of the wall.
Verstappen was at the top of the timesheets for most of the session
DPPI
Leclerc then finally put in a decent lap with the second fastest lap of the session, just 0.3s behind Verstappen.
With ten minutes to go, Hamilton was still in 18th place, with Norris behind him. After the driveability was very poor in advance, the Mercedes driver then surprised everyone by being the fastest with 1 minute 43.033 seconds.
Verstappen was suspended and ended up in the runoff, but managed to escape and continue on his way.
When the flag dropped, the top three were Hamilton – Verstappen – Leclerc, which seemed to signal qualifying and racing this weekend could certainly be close.
FINAL CLASSIFICATION 🏁
Lewis Hamilton sets the pace in FP1! 🙌#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/RKIuXCUb3N
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 30, 2022
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