Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went quickest in the first practice session for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, as Mercedes suffered a setback when Valtteri Bottas crashed out in the final half hour.
Verstappen beat Sebastian Vettel to top spot in the session, using soft-compound tyres to edge ahead of the Ferrari driver by just 0.167s. Lewis Hamilton was third quickest in the session, though the Mercedes man ended the session 0.666s behind the pacesetting Dutchman.
Bottas was fourth fastest, a full second behind Verstappen, but any thoughts he might have entertained of making a late assault on the top positions on the timesheet ended when he crashed out with a little over 20 minutes remaining.
Bottas lost control of the rear end of his car and hit the street circuit’s barriers entering Turn 19, doing significant damage to the left-front of his Mercedes.
Behind the Finn, Alex Allbon finished in fifth place in the second Red Bull. The Thai driver finished 1.2 seconds behind team-mate Verstappen and three tenths of a second ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Seventh place in the session went to McLaren’s Carlos Sainz who finished two tenths of a second clear of team-mate Lando Norrios. Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Toro Rosso.
Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, hit trouble in the second Ferrari. The Monegasque driver was forced back to the pit lane by gearbox problem late in a lap. He coasted to a halt and was pushed back to the Ferrari garage but he failed to emerge for the rest of the session. He finished in 19thplace.
2019 FIA Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 22 1:40.259
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 23 1:40.426 0.167
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 26 1:40.925 0.666
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 14 1:41.336 1.077
5 Alex Albon Red Bull Racing 24 1:41.467 1.208
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 26 1:41.812 1.553
7 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 20 1:41.966 1.707
8 Lando Norris McLaren 19 1:42.180 1.921
9 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 26 1:42.305 2.046
10 Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso 24 1:42.377 2.118
11 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 20 1:42.527 2.268
12 Romain Grosjean Haas 23 1:42.630 2.371
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 15 1:42.677 2.418
14 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 13 1:42.786 2.527
15 Lance Stroll Racing Point 28 1:42.791 2.532
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 22 1:43.150 2.891
17 Robert Kubica Williams 28 1:43.336 3.077
18 Sergio Perez Racing Point 23 1:43.369 3.110
19 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 12 1:43.618 3.359
20 George Russell Williams 29 1:43.993 3.734
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