Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 during the opening daylight practice session for Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay.
Leclerc set a time of 1:33.350s around the remodelled circuit – with the old Turns 16 to 19 now bypassed – to finish 0.078s faster than Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.
World Champion Max Verstappen, chasing an eleventh successive win at a circuit where he has never triumphed, was third-fastest for Red Bull.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, with the top five covered by less than two tenths of a second.
The highlight of a relatively sedate session came at Turn 8, when a lizard appeared on track, causing a yellow flag period, with the situation replicated on two further occasions, before it was struck late on in the session.
George Russell wound up sixth overall, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who claimed victory in Singapore last season.
Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, in front of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounding out a tightly-contested top 10.
All of the front-runners registered their best lap times on Pirelli’s Soft tyres, with only the Alfa Romeo pair clocking their fastest efforts on Mediums.
Williams debuted its updated Gulf livery, which will run on the FW45 across the next three events, with Alex Albon its quickest representative in 13th position.
Second practice is scheduled for 21:00 local time
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