Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Leclerc puts Ferrari on top in Singapore Formula 1 FP3

Charles Leclerc headed Lewis Hamilton in final practice for Formula 1's Singapore Grand Prix, as Red Bull failed to show its true pace ahead of Saturday night's qualifying session

Ferrari was not expected to challenge for honours in Singapore and its lead car was 0.8s off the pace in Friday practice, but Leclerc improved his own fastest time on the opening day by almost two seconds in FP3.

A 1m38.192s launched the Belgian and Italian Grands Prix winner to the top spot, two tenths clear of Mercedes driver Hamilton.

Leclerc spent most of FP3 on top, setting the pace in the early runs as Mercedes' drivers used medium tyres instead of softs.

A red flag around the halfway mark, caused by Sergio Perez clouting the wall exiting the final chicane with his right rear and leaving debris on the track, interrupted the next round of qualifying simulations.

After that stoppage, Valtteri Bottas briefly went fastest for Mercedes on a 1m39.166s, but as that was slower than the fastest time from Friday, it was never likely to remain the benchmark.

Leclerc swiftly reclaimed top spot with his low-1m38s, a time only Hamilton came close to matching - after the championship leader recovered from a spin at Turn 3 just after exiting the pits.

Sebastian Vettel, who led Ferrari's effort on Friday, was third-fastest and 0.619s slower than Leclerc.

Bottas improved on his brief table-topping lap to end up fourth on a 1m38.885s, just behind Vettel.

Alex Albon was surprisingly Red Bull's best-placed driver in fifth, after Max Verstappen failed to improve late on.

Verstappen was third quickest, 0.2s slower than Bottas, on the penultimate runs but a messy lap and then traffic prevented him from improving.

That allowed Albon to nip in ahead with a 1m39.258s.

Behind the big three teams, McLaren duo Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris led the midfield runners.

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo completed the two-by-two formation behind the top four.

Perez's smack against the wall was the only contact-related incident of note in the session.

Daniil Kvyat failed to set a time after aborting a lap early on with smoke starting to appear from the back of his Honda-powered Toro Rosso.

Kvyat suffered an oil leak and will switch to a different engine for qualifying, but will not incur a grid penalty as it is a previously-used power unit.

Singapore FP3 result

Pos Driver Car Gap Laps
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m38.192s 15
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 0.207s 15
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 0.619s 13
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0.693s 16
5 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1.066s 14
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1.174s 9
7 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 1.315s 14
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1.517s 13
9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1.926s 15
10 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1.961s 12
11 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 2.017s 11
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 2.147s 15
13 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 2.761s 16
14 Sergio Perez Racing Point/Mercedes 2.793s 4
15 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 2.964s 13
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 2.977s 14
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 3.302s 12
18 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 3.350s 12
19 Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 3.762s 13
20 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda - 3

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Formula 1 teams could share designs instead of standard parts for 2021
Next article How one team is getting eight more GPs of running in 2019

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe