Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was fastest in FP1, while Sainz set the quickest time of the day in the darkness of FP2.
Singapore Grand Prix FP1 results: Hamilton fastest from Verstappen
What happened in Singapore GP Free Practice 1?
In the daylight of the early evening, Verstappen set the initial pace at 1m47.329s on medium tyres. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso briefly beat that with 1m47.291 before Verstappen lowered the bar to 1m45.466s, then 1m44.748s and 1m44.236s.
Charles Leclerc suffered a brake problem, that cost him valuable track time early on, and George Russell nosed his Mercedes into the Turn 11 barriers.
Teams gravitated to the softs in the second half of the session, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz having a huge moment on the exit of Turn 5 but keeping it out of the wall.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez reset the P1 bar with 1m43.839s, before Lance Stroll fenced his Aston Martin at Turn 5. Verstappen just managed to get his lap in, a 1m43.117s, before the red flag came out to retrieve Stroll’s stricken car with 20 minutes to go.
Sainz, who was third-fastest at this point, had a big moment at the final corner but again escaped unscathed. With his brake trouble solved, teammate Leclerc jumped up to second, three tenths off Verstappen.
Hamilton then shocked everyone by going P1 in a session for the first time this year with 1m43.033s, 0.084s faster than Verstappen, who overshot Turn 16 on his long run on mediums. Leclerc was third, ahead of Russell and Sainz.
Perez suffered a driveshaft issue that forced him to coast into the pits near the end of the session.
Singapore Grand Prix FP2 results: Sainz fastest from Leclerc
What happened in Singapore GP Free Practice 2?
After sundown, Russell ran early on new mediums, setting the pace at 1m44.661s before teammate Hamilton went half a second faster on 1m44.091s. Leclerc was delayed again, as his team removed the floor to fix an issue, and Verstappen lost the first 20 minutes due to a setup change at the front of his RB18.
Sainz rose to the top of the times with 1m43.710s before Hamilton grabbed P1 back with 1m43.668s, despite catching Nicholas Latifi’s Williams. Sainz then went quicker still on 1m43.231s.
Verstappen emerged on the hard tyres, taking fifth spot on his opening lap among the medium runners, 1.4s off the pace.
As in FP1, teams switched to the softs around the halfway point, with Sainz staying on top by lowering his fastest time to…
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