F1: Hamilton nips Verstappen in opening Singapore practice

Lewis Hamilton gave Mercedes fans something to cheer about in opening practice for the Singapore GP with a lap of 1m43.033s to lead all challengers on the soft Pirelli tires.

Max Verstappen, headed for his 2nd straight F1 World Driving title, turned the 2nd fastest lap, 0.084s behind the Mercedes on the streets of Marina bay.

Verstappen’s lap was set earlier in the session, and he was out on medium tires when the track was the fastest near the end.

Charles Leclerc was 3rd quick for Ferrari, 0.402s behind the Mercedes.

Sergio Perez in the 2nd Red Bull, and Lewis Hamilton in the 2nd Mercedes, rounded out the top-5.

The track was still warm for this session, which started in the daylight, and not representative of qualifying for race conditions.

Lance Stroll brought out the only red flag when he clouted the wall with his right rear, breaking the suspension and wheel.

The teams will be busy for the next couple of hours until FP2 gets underway tweaking their set-ups, debriefing with the drivers and trying to optimize their evening to make sure they are in the best place possible heading into the weekend.

Practice 1 Results