Verstappen nips Vettel to lead 3rd Singapore GP practice

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen can be very quick when he does not hit anything and that was the case on the streets of Singapore Saturday as he set fastest time in third practice with a lap of 1m41.829s in his Red Bull. The bad news is that he is so hard on his car he usually breaks it and that was the case once again. Right after he completed his fast lap he radioed to the crew "The car is shifting all by itself".

Sebastian Vettel was 0.072s behind the Red Bull as the Ferrari ace appeared to get his car handling to his liking after a disastrous Friday.

Mercedes driver and soon to be 2017 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton was close behind in third just 0.142s behind the Red Bull. Not bad for a track where Mercedes was supposed to be bad.

The McLaren Hondas of Alonso and Vandoorne rounded out the top-5. The Hondas are getting faster. Watch out next year! Will they bury the McLaren Renaults?

Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:41.829 +0.000s 12
2 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:41.901 +0.072s 13
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.971 +0.142s 16
4 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1:42.383 +0.554s 11
5 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1:42.439 +0.610s 13
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 1:42.517 +0.688s 11
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:42.549 +0.720s 10
8 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:42.592 +0.763s 16
9 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:42.708 +0.879s 16
10 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1:43.010 +1.181s 14
11 31 Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1:43.109 +1.280s 15
12 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:43.356 +1.527s 17
13 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:43.368 +1.539s 11
14 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:43.574 +1.745s 17
15 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1:43.724 +1.895s 17
16 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1:44.041 +2.212s 16
17 18 Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1:44.223 +2.394s 18
18 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1:44.295 +2.466s 16
19 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1:45.760 +3.931s 15
20 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1:46.339 +4.510s 7