Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo set the pace during the opening practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, held in overcast conditions at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Ricciardo set the fastest ever lap around the circuit to wind up with a time of 1:42.489, 0.109s clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, as all of the front runners ran the purple-banded Ultrasoft tyres.
Max Verstappen led the way briefly before being shuffled down to third, just 0.012s behind Vettel, while title leader Lewis Hamilton was the quickest Mercedes driver in fourth position.
Hamilton finished within half a second of pacesetter Ricciardo as Mercedes ran with an extended shark fin on its W08.
Force India's Sergio Pérez split the Mercedes drivers as he took fifth spot, with Valtteri Bottas holding a low-key sixth, complaining that the “rear end is undriveable”, having finished almost a second off the pace.
Kimi Räikkönen was seventh, while Fernando Alonso was eighth; when informed of his time, Alonso replied: “For info, we could be P1,” with an announcement on McLaren’s 2018 engine deal due imminently.
Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg, sporting a revised helmet scheme, placed ninth, as Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10 for Toro Rosso.
Stoffel Vandoorne took 11th, ahead of Jolyon Palmer, Esteban Ocon and Felipe Massa.
Haas was the only team to log its best times on the red-banded Soft tyres, as Romain Grosjean took 15th, via a spin at Turn 16, in front of practice driver Antonio Giovinazzi.
Williams' Lance Stroll was left mired in 17th position after completing only minimal running due to an engine problem.
Formula 2 racer Sean Gelael made his Grand Prix weekend debut as he piloted Carlos Sainz Jr.’s STR12 and finished 18th, his best lap 3.3s down on team-mate Kvyat.
Sauber once more brought up the rear of the pack, with Marcus Ericsson leading Pascal Wehrlein, the pair five seconds slower than Ricciardo.
