Aston Martin's Alonso Tops First Practice at Singapore Grand Prix
F1 Singapore
3-5 October features the race kicking off at 13:00 BST on Sunday.
Real-time updates provided on radio channels and mobile app.
Opening Round Summary
Aston Martin's two-time champion set the pace ahead of Monegasque driver and reigning champion in the opening session for the Marina Bay race.
McLaren's championship contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris concluded the run in P5 and P6.
The young Australian was 0.217 seconds faster than the Briton.
The experienced Spaniard was a slim margin in front of the Ferrari driver and over a quarter of a second faster than Verstappen.
The Italian squad's Lewis Hamilton was just outside the top three.
Car Performance
Unlikely that the Silverstone-based team will be contenders for pole position.
That said, the team are optimistic of a strong showing on a low-speed track that is better matched to their vehicle, which runs more competitively when significant amounts of downforce are called for.
Two-time champion Fernando is also renowned as a Marina Bay expert, and often shines on the night race venue.
Yet he was almost certainly operating with reduced weight or a increased power than his competitors, or both, to set such a quick time.
Practice Conditions
His team-mate Lance Stroll was a significant margin off the pace in the lower order.
The Canadian had issues with his driving position early in the session and was also testing new components.
The first session in Singapore is not representative of conditions for qualifying and race as it is held in daylight in the daytime, while the shootout and the main event are run under floodlights.
Points Situation
The McLaren driver is ahead of Norris by 25 points with remaining rounds left as they approach the event in the Lion City.
The Woking-based team are poised to secure the team title on race day.
Sole scenario they can not tie it up in this race is if the Silver Arrows outscore them by 31 points or Ferrari manage it by a similar margin.
Red Bull Update
Red Bull are hopeful of a good performance after recent successes in the previous rounds preceding this Grand Prix.
They were relieved when precipitation coming down ahead of FP1 cleared by the point the vehicles took to the track on a circuit that had not been wet.
Senior figure the Austrian said ahead of practice that they wanted a clear session to begin properly on understanding their chassis settings for the Grand Prix.
