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Practice report
Formula 1 Singapore GP

F1 Singapore GP: Leclerc pips Norris to top FP1 times

Leclerc continues strong form from Baku by leading title challenger Norris

Charles Leclerc headlined the first Formula 1 practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, beating Lando Norris by a 0.076-second margin.

Norris spent the early laps turning the pace up on the medium tyres, setting a 1m33.903s and following that up with a 1m33.199s - a time that went largely untouched for the next five minutes.

The Ferraris were circulating on the hard tyre amid their early laps, which Leclerc took to a 1m32.702s to displace Norris from the top of the times.

Norris then responded on the soft compound and set a 1m32.165s as a benchmark for the performance runs. Nobody was able to beat the time on their opening runs, although Carlos Sainz got within one-thousandth of the Briton's lap on his first attempt with the softest compound.

On a second run with the same set of tyres, Norris subsequently beat his own time with a 1m31.839s to raise the bar even further. The Ferraris again got close, Leclerc just 0.037s shy, and Sainz a tenth outside of the McLaren driver's effort.

Leclerc took what amounted to a third attempt on his soft tyres and found almost eight-hundredths of a second over Norris to go fastest, a time that remained unbeaten as the drivers switched to the harder suite of tyres for the final stages of the session.

As FP1 was held in daylight conditions, it offered largely unrepresentative conditions in comparison to those expected for the night-time qualifying and race.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The early laps were characterised by runs on the hard and medium tyre, as the circuit was notably dusty throughout the opening phase of the session.

With Norris sandwiched between them, Ferrari had got both cars into the top three as Sainz was third-fastest - over a tenth-and-a-half over championship leader Max Verstappen.

Yuki Tsunoda took his denim-liveried RB to fifth fastest, exactly 0.5s off the pace, as Oscar Piastri's session was marginally delayed by a fix to his rear-left upright after McLaren detected an issue. The Australian also survived a brush with the wall at the rear right, causing little but minor cosmetic damage to his wheel cover.

Daniel Ricciardo was seventh fastest over Alex Albon, while Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon completed the top 10 - the Frenchman just 0.003s faster than Franco Colapinto.

F1 Singapore GP FP1 Results:

   
1
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4
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 26

1'31.763

  193.803
2 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 25

+0.076

1'31.839

0.076 193.643
3 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 27

+0.189

1'31.952

0.113 193.405
4 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 22

+0.334

1'32.097

0.145 193.100
5 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 26

+0.500

1'32.263

0.166 192.753
6 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 25

+0.606

1'32.369

0.106 192.532
7 Australia D. Ricciardo RB 3 RB Red Bull 21

+0.612

1'32.375

0.006 192.519
8 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 25

+0.688

1'32.451

0.076 192.361
9 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 26

+0.847

1'32.610

0.159 192.031
10 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 27

+0.852

1'32.615

0.005 192.020
11 Argentina F. Colapinto Williams 43 Williams Mercedes 25

+0.855

1'32.618

0.003 192.014
12 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 24

+0.916

1'32.679

0.061 191.888
13 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 27

+0.931

1'32.694

0.015 191.857
14 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 22

+1.004

1'32.767

0.073 191.706
15 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 21

+1.015

1'32.778

0.011 191.683
16 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 25

+1.571

1'33.334

0.556 190.541
17 Denmark K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team 20 Haas Ferrari 21

+1.614

1'33.377

0.043 190.453
18 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 25

+1.722

1'33.485

0.108 190.233
19 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari 24

+1.822

1'33.585

0.100 190.030
20 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 24

+2.034

1'33.797

0.212 189.600

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