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Formula 1 Singapore GP

F1 Singapore GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & qualifying

Saturday's action from the Marina Bay circuit ahead of the Singapore GP

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18

F1's first ever night race back in 2008, Singapore's Marina Bay circuit blends a challenging layout with hot, tropical conditions to work the drivers hard throughout the 61-lap race.

Sebastian Vettel won last time out in 2019, beating Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc to claim his final victory for the Scuderia - and his most recent win in F1.

Max Verstappen could theoretically win the F1 title this weekend if results go his way, but the Dutchman has admitted that it would be "unrealistic" to wrap it up before Japan. Carlos Sainz topped Friday practice for Ferrari held in dry and hot conditions.

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"It is drying up quickly," Leclerc says over team radio. Will anyone gamble for dry tyres at the end of this session?
No sign of dry tyres yet, with the top times from Q1 not breaking into the 1m52s. Close but not close enough for the slicks.
Lights green
Once again lots of early takers for Q2 as a queue forms at pitlane exit.
Quote
"Ah the brakes guys, I had no brakes on that lap," Ocon vents over Alpine team radio. That could explain his poor lap which led to his Q1 exit.
Checkered flag
Out in Q1: P16 Bottas, P17 Ricciardo, P18 Ocon, P19 Albon, P20 Latifi.
Schumacher does it! He goes up to 14th to push Bottas out in the first stage of qualifying.
Ricciardo and Latifi also can't improve by enough to get out of the Q1 drop zone. Schumacher is the only one who can save himself now.
Checkered flag
Gasly lifts himself to 11th which drops Ocon into the drop zone - he's the next out as he takes the chequered flag.
Stopwatch
Hamilton goes fastest with a 1m53.161s, while further back Albon improves but not by enough to get out of Q1.
Bottas puts himself clear which cycles Gasly into trouble. But everyone is putting in personal bests so this will shake up all the way to the end.
Magnussen and Schumacher are the next to leap up the order to escape the Q1 drop zone, as both go into the top 10, to push Vettel and Bottas into danger.
Into the closing stages of Q1 as Ricciardo goes from 18th to 12th which pushes Tsunoda into the drop zone.
Stopwatch
Leclerc is quickest with a 1m54.222s to go ahead of Verstappen, Perez, Sainz and Hamilton.
A Red Bull misunderstanding as Perez asked why Verstappen was slow in front of him while he was on a quick lap. The reply is "we thought you aborted" but the lap he completed put him up to third place.
Verstappen reports it is "still inters" on the track but the crossover point is approaching. Expect the first drivers to gamble for dry tyres when lap times get towards 1m51s-ish.
All drivers have got a lap on the board now and the bottom six is: P15 Albon, P16 Latifi, P17 Bottas, P18 Ricciardo, P19 Magnussen, P20 Schumacher.
Stopwatch
Verstappen gets a clean lap together and goes fastest with a 1m54.395s.
Stopwatch
Leclerc catches a slow slide to avoid a trip into the barrier and spins around in the runoff area at Turn 5. Meanwhile Hamilton returns to the top with a 1m54.689s.
Stopwatch
Leclerc takes over at the top with a 1m55.054s. Expect these times to tumble throughout Q1 as conditions improve and drivers find more confidence on the track.
We have a full track now and lots of laps being clocked. Hamilton still at the top of the times from team-mate Russell.
Stopwatch
The first lap times in Q1 are coming in, as Hamilton leads with a 1m56.937s.
16 out of 20 drivers on the track already - just missing both Alfa Romeos and both Red Bulls.
Quote
"It is still a bit too damp, so I think inters are OK," Norris reports over McLaren team radio. Everyone on the track are on intermediates.
Lights green
Here we go - Q1 is underway! Russell leads out Hamilton at the head of a train of F1 drivers.
Both Mercedes drivers are at pitlane exit on inters waiting for Q1 to get going. They clearly want to check out conditions for themselves before it gets frantic.
The most precipitation will be coming from the drivers as it is a hot and sticky one - it always is in Singapore. Air temperature is at 26.5oC but the major challenge is the 81% humidity.
The risk of rain for qualifying is rated at 20%, so let's assume we won't see any of the inter or wet tyres over the next hour.
Back to the track action and practice was a mixed bag. It was a dry but disrupted Friday for Verstappen, Perez and Leclerc due to various issues, as Sainz topped the day. In the wet FP3 Leclerc led Verstappen and Sainz.
Another story to keep an eye on is Hamilton’s summons to the stewards over an alleged breach of Appendix L, Chapter III of the FIA International Sporting code. It is reportedly over a jewellery ban breach.
The four non-pole winners were: 2019 Vettel who started third, 2017 Hamilton who started fifth, 2012 Vettel who started third and 2008 Alonso who started 15th. That last one needs a huge asterisk next to it in the F1 history book.
A tight and twisty street track. An intense and tough race ahead. That means qualifying will be all-important, right? Well, yes. Eight out of 12 polesitters have gone on to win the race so history says it is a massive advantage.
Just 20 minutes to go until the start of Singapore GP qualifying and after a wet final practice earlier today both the track and the drivers have dried out.
Green flag
Hello once again, who is ready for a bit of F1 qualifying action?
Right, thanks for bearing with us through the slow start to that session! We're now going to take a short break, but will be back for all the build-up to qualifying in around 90 minutes. Bye for now.
Breaking news
Here's our full report from that chaotic 30 minutes: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-singapore-gp-leclerc-tops-wet-final-practice-from-verstappen/10377463/

While Alex reports that Zhou was the only driver to actually go off in the treacherous conditions there, bouncing across the runoff:

 

A final couple of observations from ALEX KALINAUCKAS, down at the first corners:

"Verstappen ended up taking the Norris Turn 2 Astro line even further and, on one lap, scraped a big chunk of paint from the kerbs onto the track, which landed by the pitlane exit line after a few others had kicked it and smaller pieces around. Next time by here, below, Max had a massive wiggle, which he saved deftly."

 

The drivers now head around to the grid to complete their traditional end of session practice starts. As they do this, the track is now practically dry - so perhaps it will be a more straightforward qualifying.

By: autosport.com

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