Hamilton fastest in the first Singapore tests

Mercedes has made it clear in recent days that the road characteristics of the Asian port city this year match the specifications of its crisis car and Lewis Hamilton confirmed this in the first free practice session of the 17th Formula 1 GP this year.

As cautious as the seven-time world champion was with the fuel load as she set the fastest lap with five minutes to go, it’s undoubtedly a positive start for the champion compared to most races this year.

Sunday (October 2nd) will show whether it will be enough for Mercedes and Hamilton to win their first win of the season.

Things didn’t start too well for the Brit today, however: in his early laps he complained about the W13’s balance and was bottom of the table, but he seems to have found solutions to his problems before finally providing the answer – until then – Max Verstappen’s first year with a new fresh set of soft rubber.

After half an hour, Verstappen was 1.1 seconds clear of his closest rival, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, when Charles Leclerc suffered brake problems in his Ferrari F1-75, which kept him stuck in the Scuderia garage for 25 minutes.

Against Verstappen’s first year on the medium tyre, Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari soon moved up to 4th place – albeit on the slowest of all tyres, the hard. But the Spaniard also returned to the garage to demand extensive adjustments to the Italian car’s settings in his own case.

When Carlos took to the track a little later on the soft rubber, he mentioned that these tires can only be pushed to their limits for one lap and his mechanic confirmed this. The Spaniard had a big slide on the exit of Turn 5 but was able to save it – unlike Lance Stroll.

The Canadian hit the left rear wheel of the Aston Martin on the exit wall of the same corner, blowing the tire and forcing Stroll to slowly return to the pits. This happened about 20 minutes before the checkered flag and paused testing for 4 minutes.

Prior to this incident, however, Verstappen had already taken to the track on the soft tire and had again set the fastest lap time – 0.7 inches ahead of fellow rider Sergio Perez. After the stop, the two Ferraris came back but still had no free laps.

Leclerc set the fastest time through the middle section of the track but – describing the Ferrari F1-75 as nervous – was limited to three tenths behind Verstappen. Saith was previously over 1 second behind the Dutchman due to another big slide on his Cavallino in the last corner.

Verstappen went out on the middle tire in the final minutes and had a block that sent him to the exit of Turn 16. And then it was Hamilton’s moment to move to the top of the times, helped by both his fresh rubber and the rubber that was already on the Marina Bay tarmac after 55 minutes.

Rounding out the top 6 were Perez, Russell and Sainz looking close behind RBR and Ferrari in a three-way battle with Mercedes in the three-day race.