Hamilton leads the first Free Practice session in Singapore ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc

Sainz finished sixth and Alonso tenth, with gearbox problems

   MADRID, 30 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The British driver Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) has been the fastest in the first free practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix, the seventeenth round of the Formula 1 World Championship and who returns after two years of absence, ahead of the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and the Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), with the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine) sixth and tenth, respectively.

In the first contact in Marina Bay, on his return after a two-season break due to the coronavirus and with resurfaced areas to mitigate the 'porpoising', Verstappen, who celebrates his 25th birthday this Friday, began dominating the first session, painting in purple all the sectors since his first lap on the Singapore track to quickly get to the top.

His best time came in the final third of the session on soft tires when he set a time of 1m43.117s, but when it looked like he would dominate this first session Hamilton completed a fantastic lap to drop the time by 83 thousandths (1m43.033s). .

Leclerc also ran in 1:43, four tenths off the best time of the session that the Monegasque did not start on the right foot due to a problem with the brakes of his car, which prevented him from going out on the track in the first half hour. Eight tenths behind Hamilton was 'Checo' Pérez, somewhat slower than his teammate Verstappen and also affected by a problem in his car in the last stages of the session.

Sainz, who came third in the session, had to settle for the sixth fastest time, more than a second behind the best Mercedes, far from what was expected in this first contact. The man from Madrid had a scare when he finished one of his fastest laps, but the escape before entering the straight allowed him to straighten his car, avoiding a scare against the wall.

The one who could not avoid that crash was Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), who in turn five, on the right, went through the dirty area and hit his left rear wheel with the barrier due to oversteer. After advancing for some meotrs, the driver stopped his car causing the red flag with 20 minutes remaining in this first session.

This came at the worst time, when the rest of the drivers were on soft tyres, and with no time to complete their first laps on that compound. The session was resumed with 15 minutes to test more realistic rhythms, and when it seemed that Verstappen would lead the 'podium' of these Free 1, Hamilton snatched that first place, also on soft.

For his part, Fernando Alonso, who came second in the first half of the session, was unable to ride on soft tires as his session ended early due to a gearbox problem that prevented him from going out on track after the flag red. The Asturian will become this Sunday the driver with the most races with 350, leaving behind the Finn Kimi Raikkonen.