Welcome at RacingNews365

Become part of the largest racing community in the United Kingdom. Create your free account now!

  • Share your thoughts and opinions about F1
  • Win fantastic prizes
  • Get access to our premium content
  • Take advantage of more exclusive benefits
Sign in

Leclerc fastest in rain-shortened Singapore Grand Prix final practice

Charles Leclerc topped FP3 as rain forced the session to be shortened to just 30 minutes.

Charles Leclerc set the quickest time in a rain-shortened third and final Formula 1 practice at the Singapore Grand Prix. Torrential rain at Marina Bay led to W Series qualifying being abandoned, with FP3 going green at the scheduled start time of 18:00pm local but the cars were not allowed out due to the conditions. The session eventually got underway 30 minutes in, with Pierre Gasly the first to venture out on the full Wet tyres. The field switched to intermediates, with Leclerc and Max Verstappen trading fastest laps throughout the session. A 1m:57.782s from the Ferrari driver was enough to claim top spot, with Verstappen's best effort a 1m:58.308s. Carlos Sainz Jr, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez rounded out the top five ahead of qualifying.

Gasly first out

Gasly's 2m:09.894s was the first effort of the shortened session, with Verstappen immediately going out on the green-walled Inter tyre, and setting a 2m:03.272s. Leclerc's first flyer was a 2m:00.983s, with the top two in the championship trading times, eventually whittling it down to the 1m:57.782s benchmark from the Ferrari driver. Verstappen was 0.526s behind, and in turn another half-second clear of Sainz in the second Ferrari, with Alonso and Perez the only other two drivers to break the one-minute barrier. Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel, George Russell and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10 - the Australian 3.254s slower than Leclerc.

Hamilton struggles

Except for one brief lap on the wets, Lewis Hamilton only emerged late in the session, and could only manage a 2m:01.220s as the Mercedes struggled with tyre warm-up. He was behind Kevin Magunssen and ahead of Gasly who had a moment at Turn 18 and went up the escape road late on. Mick Schumacher faces an investigation for an unsafe release as his right-rear was fully properly tightened by Haas during his switch to Inters - but by stopping in the pitlane and being wheeled back, he was not sent out on track. He was 14th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Lando Norris in the upgraded McLaren, Alex Albon and the Alfa Romeo duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. Everyone from Norris down was over four seconds slower than Leclerc as Nicholas Latifi complained of steering issues to complete a hat-trick of P20s in practice by going 5.728s slower than P1.

x
LATEST McLaren lodge protest over Norris F1 penalty