FP1: Hamilton leads Verstappen in opening Singapore practice

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in opening practice for the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc finishing a respective second and third.

Marina Bay's glittering street circuit returns to the F1 calendar after a two-season absence, with Max Verstappen on the verge of securing his second drivers' championship – but he needs results for Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez to swing his way.

READ MORE: 'If you survive Singapore, you’re fit for anything else in F1' – Drivers brace for toughest race on calendar

The session was red-flagged with 20 minutes remaining for Lance Stroll (P8) hitting the barriers with the left-hand side of his Aston Martin at Turn 5, before coming to a stop and jumping out in the Turn 7 run-off area.

With five minutes remaining, Lewis Hamilton fitted softs to shoot to the top with a time of 1m 43.033s, beating Verstappen’s benchmark by 0.084s. The Red Bull driver – who overshot at Turn 16 late in the session – set the early pace on mediums. Leclerc completed the top three, 0.402s off Hamilton’s time.

Sergio Perez finished fourth in the other Red Bull, 0.806s off the pace, while George Russell rounded out the top five for Mercedes – leaving Carlos Sainz sixth as he struggled with the car’s balance.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished seventh as Alpine ran new floors in Singapore, with Stroll eighth on mediums having missed the chance to set a lap on soft tyres after his Turn 5 crash.

Pierre Gasly took P9 for AlphaTauri to leave Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 10 in the other Alpine. The Spaniard was confined to the garage for the final 25 minutes with a suspected gearbox oil leak.

Sebastian Vettel finished 11th for Aston Martin, ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas in P13 for Alfa Romeo.

Kevin Magnussen finished 14th for Haas ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in 15th for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon, who missed the Italian Grand Prix with appendicitis and suffered complications from the resulting surgery, returned to finish 16th in FP1 for Williams. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu used medium compounds to finish three-tenths off the Thai driver.

Mick Schumacher took 18th for Haas while Lando Norris, with a smattering of flo-vis paint on the right-side of his car as McLaren brought new sidepods and floor updates to Singapore, took 19th – with Nicholas Latifi rounding out the standings, the 20 drivers split by 4.059s.

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