Daniel Ricciardo has topped the first practice session at Singapore, with his best lap time reading a 1:39.711. The Australian led his teammate Max Verstappen, who was just two-tenths of a second behind.
The drivers found the track conditions tricky, with many sustaining lock-ups. Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas were caught out by the kerb at Turn 2, which caused them to spin around - however both avoided the close-by barriers.
Both Ferrari's followed the Red Bull duo, with Sebastian Vettel ending the session in third. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, but was just under half a second behind his German teammate.
Mercedes didn't electrify the timesheets during the opening session, with Renault getting itself involved with the world champions. Nico Hulkenberg was fifth behind the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who headed the second Renault of Carlos Sainz.
Valtteri Bottas was eighth, while Ferrari bound Charles Leclerc finished in ninth place. However, the Monegasque driver ended the session on a low note, hitting the barrier under the bridge in the middle sector and sustaining heavy damage to his right front suspension.
A busy couple of hours ahead for SauberF1Team?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SauberF1Team mechanics#SingaporeGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/rIFAcxQ4py
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Romain Grosjean closed out the top ten in his Haas. The Frenchman will be looking to secure his contract with Haas for next year in the coming weeks. Marcus Ericsson was just outside the top ten in eleventh, ahead of the Force India of Sergio Perez and the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
McLaren didn't have an exciting opening ninety minutes, as Fernando Alonso ended up in fourteenth. His teammate Stoffel Vandoorne once again finished as the slowest driver in the field, which will worry the Woking team who is hoping for a stronger performance than Spa and Monza.
Esteban Ocon followed Fernando Alonso, while the Toro Rosso pair of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley were P16 and P17. Ocon and Gasly had a small exchange during the session as Ocon sending his Force India up the inside of Gasly on the entry to Turn 13, with the two coming close to making contact.
Williams ended the session only ahead of Vandoorne, with Stroll's time faster than Sergey Sirotkin's. The second practice session will get underway at 20:30 PM local time.
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