George Russell leads Singapore’s sole Formula 1 practice session

Mercedes driver George Russell topped the only Singapore Grand Prix practice session on October 9. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished 0.198 seconds behind, with McLaren’s Lando Norris 0.273 seconds off the lead.

Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri followed in fourth and fifth. Max Verstappen was sixth without using soft tyres, setting the quickest time on mediums. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli placed seventh, also without a soft-tyre run, and made a mistake at the end of the session.

Isack Hadjar, Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson completed the top ten. Hot conditions and a dusty track complicated comparisons between drivers working through different programmes and tyre choices.

Mercedes ran different car configurations. Russell reverted to the specification used before Malaysia, dropping the major upgrade package from that event. Antonelli retained the new parts and received a new front wing. Team principal Toto Wolff had described Malaysia as Mercedes’ worst weekend of the season.

Russell is due to start at the back of Sunday’s Grand Prix grid following a power unit change. Norris arrived after scoring only two points across the previous two race weekends. McLaren believes it has addressed a straight-line speed problem that contributed to those difficulties.

Singapore hosts the season’s final Sprint weekend. The main Grand Prix is scheduled for Sunday, October 11.