F1: Leclerc tops Singapore GP Practice 1

Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari fans something to cheer about by leading a Ferrari 1-2 in opening practice for the 2023 Singapore GP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Leclerc’s lap of 1m33.350s in the #16 Ferrari was 0.078s faster than his teammate Carlos Sainz on what was largely a track cleaning session to brush off the dust and lay down some rubber.

Ferrari looked solid, with both cars vying for the top spot and plenty of time to come from the Scuderia once their drivers start to push their racing line closer to those looming barriers.

World Champion Max Verstappen was 0.126s behind Leclerc in his #1 Red Bull Honda in what was an incident free session, but several yellows to remove lizards from the track.

Verstappen eased himself into that session via some grumblings about his gearbox, but like the Ferrari pair, you sense there is plenty more to come from Red Bull here today.

Lando Norris in the #4 McLaren Mercedes was 4th while Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5 in his #44 Mercedes.

Norris looked strong in that session, as McLaren used black paint to hide the fact they have copied the Red Bull RB19 further with their latest upgrades.

Oscar Piastri in the #81 McLaren found himself down the other end of the timing sheet, in P19. But McLaren confirmed that they weren’t worried – and that the rookie is just working his way into the weekend, learning the track and not chasing time just yet.

Singapore GP Practice 1 Results