Lewis Hamilton topped the times in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The Mercedes star lapped the 5.065km track in a time of 1:47.055s – a time well over three seconds faster than that which Sebastian Vettel achieved in the corresponding session last year. The difference is explained by the revamped Turn Ten.
McLaren’s Sergio Perez the first driver to set a lap time half an hour in. The Mexican eventually wound up eighth on the timesheets, with Jenson Button 14th in a session which saw McLaren creating more headlines off the track.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber was second fastest 0.365s down on Hamilton, with team-mate and current Championship leader Vettel third ahead of Nico Rosberg in what was a promising start to the weekend for Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for Lotus ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean.
Fernando Alonso‘s Ferrari was seventh fastest ahead of Perez, with Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) completing the top ten. Elsewhere, Felipe Massa was 12th fastest in his Ferrari while the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil were 15th and 16th respectively.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m47.055s 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m47.420s +0.365s 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m47.885s +0.830s 4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m48.239s +1.184s 5. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m48.354s +1.299s 6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m48.355s +1.300s 7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m48.362s +1.307s 8. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m49.267s +2.212s 9. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m49.348s +2.293s 10. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m49.355s +2.300s 11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m49.481s +2.426s 12. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m49.493s +2.438s 13. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m49.510s +2.455s 14. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m49.608s +2.553s 15. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m49.887s +2.832s 16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m50.092s +3.037s 17. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m50.222s +3.167s 18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m50.757s +3.702s 19. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m52.359s +5.304s 20. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m52.673s +5.618s 21. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m52.920s +5.865s 22. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m53.647s +6.592s