After a disappointing Italian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel kicked off a promising campaign for his Red Bull team in Singapore. The German topped the timesheets during the first free practice session, edging out Lewis Hamilton by 0.049 seconds only.
Jenson Button clocked a 1m51.459s at the very last minute to go third quickest, around one tenth ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Williams’ Pastor Maldonado who ended up fourth and fifth respectively.
Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber finished the session in sixth place, followed by Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Paul Di Resta. Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez rounded up the top 10 on a track that witnessed heavy rain early morning which hampered the team’s running during the first 30 minutes.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m50.566 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m50.615s + 0.049 3. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m51.459s + 0.893 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m51.525s + 0.959 5. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m51.576s + 1.010 6. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m51.655s + 1.089 7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m51.658s + 1.092 8. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m51.943s + 1.377 9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m52.275s + 1.709 10. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m52.296s + 1.730 11. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m52.629s + 2.063 12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m52.716s + 2.150 13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m52.839s + 2.273 14. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m52.986s + 2.420 15. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m53.028s + 2.462 16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m53.080s + 2.514 17. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m53.189s + 2.623 18. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m53.227s + 2.661 19. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m54.908s + 4.342 20. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m55.091s + 4.525 21. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m55.335s + 4.769 22. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m55.760s + 5.194 23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m56.656s + 6.090 24. Ma Qing Hua HRT-Cosworth 1m58.053s + 7.487