Singapore GP: Ricciardo leads Red Bull 1-2 in first practice

During a qualifying simulation run on hypersoft tyres in the final half hour, Ricciardo lapped in 1m39.711s, not only deposing Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel from the top spot but also obliterating his own fastest time from the equivalent session last year, a 1m42.489s.

Max Verstappen made it a Red Bull 1-2, and Vettel's teammate Kimi Raikkonen ended the session seven tenths off the pace in fourth after losing track time to a car issue.

Nico Hulkenberg, trialling a new bargeboard on his Renault this weekend, was the best of the rest in fifth, albeit 1.394s off the pace, while neither of the Mercedes drivers attempted a fast lap on the hypersoft compound.

Lewis Hamilton was sixth fastest, Valtteri Bottas eighth.

As the session got under way, the Marina Bay Circuit was still basking in the late afternoon sunshine and an ambient temperature of 32C. The track surface itself was a baking 43C.

Given the relatively unrepresentative nature of this daylight session, several teams demonstrated little urgency in taking to the track, and only eight drivers set timed laps during the first 15 minutes.

The track surface evolved markedly over the course of the session and the process accelerated as more cars joined the fray: Raikkonen's initial benchmark of 1m44.622s was over two seconds slower than Ricciardo's fastest lap in FP1 last year, but by the time the session entered its final hour both Mercedes and both Red Bulls had smashed the 2017 time - without using the softest tyre compounds available.

Much of this improvement will have come through car and tyre development, since teams seldom chase set-up this early during a race weekend on a street circuit with a 'green' surface.

Both Raikkonen and Verstappen ran new MGU-H power unit elements, their third of the season, but Raikkonen ran just eight laps before a technical problem forced him to pit for what the team warned him would be "a long change".

Vettel also spent much of the first hour in the garage, completing just 10 laps before he and Raikkonen returned to the track on hypersofts with 35 minutes to go.

Vettel duly rocketed to the top of the timesheets with a 1m39.997s, eclipsing Bottas's previous best of 1m41.669s on the softs, while Raikkonen had a brief off at Turn 18, taking to the escape road.

Ricciardo and Verstappen then emerged to run qualifying simulations on hypersofts, and both of them went quicker than Vettel, with a 1m39.711s and a 1m39.912s respectively.

All the while, the Mercedes pairing followed their own programme of long runs on the soft compound, though they were clearly hustling: Bottas made a brief excursion down the escape road at Turn 14.

Carlos Sainz squeezed between the two Mercedes' times on his qualifying run on hypersofts, and Charles Leclerc was ninth fastest for Sauber before clipping the inside wall at Turn 3 and removing his right-front wheel just minutes before the end of the session.

Romain Grosjean completed the top 10, three places and just over three tenths faster than Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	27	1'39.711
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	27	1'39.912	0.201
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	23	1'39.997	0.286
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	21	1'40.486	0.775
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	26	1'41.105	1.394
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	28	1'41.232	1.521
7	Carlos Sainz	Renault	Renault	23	1'41.329	1.618
8	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	28	1'41.429	1.718
9	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	Ferrari	24	1'42.035	2.324
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	21	1'42.108	2.397
11	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	23	1'42.408	2.697
12	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	25	1'42.412	2.701
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	20	1'42.452	2.741
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Renault	23	1'42.630	2.919
15	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	25	1'43.177	3.466
16	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	Honda	25	1'43.240	3.529
17	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	Honda	30	1'43.485	3.774
18	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	30	1'43.849	4.138
19	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	Mercedes	29	1'44.036	4.325
20	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Renault	11	1'45.160	5.449