‘Old’ Mercedes serves Russell well in Singapore GP practice

George Russell topped the sole practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

Russell, in a previous-specification Mercedes as part of the team’s troubleshooting program following last week’s difficult race in Malaysia, set his best time of 1m32.274s on his second run on a set of softs, with purple times in the first and last splits.

The Englishman, who retired in Sepang last week with engine failure, was equipped with a new power unit that will force him to start this weekend’s grand prix from the back of the grid.

The track started at a sizzling 124 degrees F and in extremely dirty condition, with plumes of dust kicked up by the cars particularly in pit lane. FP1 is usually typically considered an unrepresentative session given it takes place in the late afternoon ahead of post-sunset qualifying and race sessions, but the Sprint format, in use here for the first time, ensured the hot hour-long session was busy throughout.

Leclerc lost his first soft lap to traffic but improved late to move his Ferrari to second behind Russell, lapping 0.198s off the pace. He pipped Norris by 0.075s despite the McLaren driver setting a purple time in the middle sector.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest and the only other driver within half a second of Russell, lapping 0.499s off the pace. Oscar Piastri was fifth, 0.584s down on the session leader.

The Red Bulls stayed away from the soft tires in practice. James Sutton/Getty Images

Apart from the Cadillac drivers Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, the top five drivers were the only ones to use softs on their performance runs, with Kimi Antonelli and both Red Bull Racing drivers – along with the rest of the field – using a set of mediums instead. Max Verstappen was quickest on mediums, lapping 0.732s down.

Antonelli followed in his Malaysia-spec Mercedes but was 1.251s off the pace after a scrappy and traffic-affected final 10 minutes in the busy session, including an off at Turn 16 in a bid to avoid slower cars on the racing line.

Isack Hadjar, who complained early of severe car bottoming, was 1.449s off the pace as the lowest-placed front-running driver.

Pierre Gasly headed the midfield at 1.764s off the pace, with Liam Lawson 0.117s further back to complete the top 10. Oliver Bearman was 11th ahead of Arvid Lindblad, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.

Gabriel Bortoleto was 16th ahead of Alex Albon and the stopped Nico Hulkenberg, who pulled into pit exit from the main straight after suffering what appeared to be a gearbox problem, triggering a brief VSC.

Franco Colapinto was 19th ahead of Lance Stroll, who tapped the wall at Turn 3 while complaining of brake problems.

Cadillac teammates Perez and Bottas completed the order in 21st and 22nd respectively and more than 3s off the pace.

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