Posted on 17th September 2016
In the first practice session in Singapore, Max Verstappen leads his team mate Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel in a session which saw Nico Rosberg hit the barrier at Turn 18.
Five minutes into the session, Jenson Button was slowing down in his McLaren-Honda during Sector 3. This then brought out the Virtual Safety Car while the marshals helped Button get out of the car and also recover the car safely by pushing it into the pitlane.
With twelve minutes of the session remaining, Nico Rosberg went into the barriers at Turn 18. This then left him with damage to his front wing and dented his Mercedes. This then left Rosberg limping back to the pits in order for the Mercedes team to resolve the issues with his car.
But it was Max Verstappen who was fastest with a lap time of 1:45.823 ahead of his team mate Daniel Ricciardo in second place who was 0.049 seconds behind him and ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third place who was 0.464 seconds behind Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton finished the session in fourth place ahead of Nico Rosberg in fifth place, Kimi Raikkonen in sixth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in seventh place, Daniil Kvyat in eighth place, Felipe Massa in ninth place and Esteban Gutierrez who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Fernando Alonso ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Sergio Perez in twelfth place, Nico Hulkenberg in thirteenth place, Valtteri Bottas in fourteenth place and Felipe Nasr in fifteenth place.
As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Jenson Button ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Jolyon Palmer in seventeenth place, Kevin Magnussen in eighteenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in nineteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in twentieth place and Esteban Ocon in twenty-first place. Romain Grosjean did not set a time in the session.
The classification of FP1 for the Singapore GP is as follows:-
1. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.45.823
2. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.049s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.464s
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.603s
5. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 0.690s
6. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.067s
7. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.113s
8. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1.860s
9. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 2.221s
10. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 2.286s
11. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 2.379s
12. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.391s
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.536s
14. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 2.630s
15. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.772s
16. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 3.792s
17. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 3.971s
18. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 4.440s
19. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 2.894s
20. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 5.289s
21. Esteban Ocon, MRT Racing, 6.556s
22. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, No Time
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
