#16 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc

F1: Leclerc tops Singapore GP Practice 1

Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari fans something to cheer about by leading a Ferrari 1-2 in opening practice for the 2023 Singapore GP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Leclerc’s lap of 1m33.350s in the #16 Ferrari was 0.078s faster than his teammate Carlos Sainz on what was largely a track cleaning session to brush off the dust and lay down some rubber.

Ferrari looked solid, with both cars vying for the top spot and plenty of time to come from the Scuderia once their drivers start to push their racing line closer to those looming barriers.

#55 Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr.
#55 Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr.

World Champion Max Verstappen was 0.126s behind Leclerc in his #1 Red Bull Honda in what was an incident free session, but several yellows to remove lizards from the track.

Verstappen eased himself into that session via some grumblings about his gearbox, but like the Ferrari pair, you sense there is plenty more to come from Red Bull here today.

Lando Norris in the #4 McLaren Mercedes was 4th while Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5 in his #44 Mercedes.

Norris looked strong in that session, as McLaren used black paint to hide the fact they have copied the Red Bull RB19 further with their latest upgrades.

Oscar Piastri in the #81 McLaren found himself down the other end of the timing sheet, in P19. But McLaren confirmed that they weren’t worried – and that the rookie is just working his way into the weekend, learning the track and not chasing time just yet.

Singapore GP Practice 1 Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME BEHIND LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.350 +0.000s 24
2 55 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:33.428 +0.078s 23
3 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 1:33.476 +0.126s 21
4 4 Lando Norris Mclaren Mercedes 1:33.522 +0.172s 23
5 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.540 +0.190s 20
6 63 George Russell Mercedes 1:33.695 +0.345s 24
7 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing Honda 1:33.725 +0.375s 21
8 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes 1:33.974 +0.624s 27
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Honda 1:34.042 +0.692s 24
10 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 1:34.066 +0.716s 23
11 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes 1:34.568 +1.218s 24
12 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine Renault 1:34.639 +1.289s 22
13 23 Alexander Albon Williams Mercedes 1:34.657 +1.307s 18
14 77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1:34.802 +1.452s 24
15 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:34.887 +1.537s 23
16 40 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri Honda 1:34.894 +1.544s 26
17 27 Nico Hulkenberg Haas Ferrari 1:34.985 +1.635s 22
18 24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1:35.456 +2.106s 24
19 81 Oscar Piastri Mclaren Mercedes 1:35.474 +2.124s 21
20 2 Logan Sargeant Williams Mercedes 1:35.778 +2.428s 23