PUBLISHED ONOctober 09, 2026 11:00 AMBYShafiq ApandiMercedes driver George Russell set the fastest time in Friday's (Oct 9) Singapore Grand Prix practice session, as drivers geared up for the first-ever sprint weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
The Briton clocked a best lap of 1min 32.274sec around the 4.927km street circuit, finishing 0.198 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
McLaren's Lando Norris was third, 0.273 seconds off the pace, while Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's Oscar Piastri completed the top five, trailing Russell by 0.499 and 0.564 seconds respectively.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished sixth, 0.732 seconds behind Russell, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli seventh, 1.251 seconds off his Mercedes teammate's benchmark.
Russell, who won last year's Singapore Grand Prix, produced his quickest lap in the closing minutes of the hour-long session, improving by more than half a second to reclaim the top spot from Hamilton.
The strong showing came despite the Mercedes driver facing a back-of-the-grid start for Sunday's main race due to a power unit penalty.
With Singapore hosting a sprint weekend for the first time, teams had just one practice session to fine-tune their cars before sprint qualifying later on Friday.
Conditions proved challenging, with air temperatures reaching 33 deg C and track temperatures hitting 51 deg C, alongside 63 per cent humidity.
The daytime running also presented an additional challenge for teams, as sprint qualifying will take place under floodlights when track temperatures are expected to be lower.
The session was briefly interrupted by a Virtual Safety Car after Audi's Nico Hulkenberg suffered a suspected gearbox-related problem and pulled up near the pit lane entry with about 20 minutes remaining.
Red Bull also encountered difficulties, with Verstappen losing valuable track time as his mechanics worked to resolve a radio communication problem.
His teammate Isack Hadjar complained of braking difficulties and a lack of grip, while Norris briefly triggered yellow flags after running wide at Turn Five and taking to the escape road.
Antonelli also had a late off-track excursion at Turn 16, running into the escape road before rejoining the circuit.
Despite the interruptions, drivers continued to push for faster times in the closing stages, with several front-runners switching to soft tyres for their qualifying simulations.
The teams will now turn their attention to sprint qualifying at 8.30pm, which will determine the starting grid for Saturday's 21-lap sprint race.
The sprint begins at 5pm on Saturday, followed by qualifying for Sunday's 62-lap Grand Prix at 9pm.
The main race gets underway at 8pm on Sunday.
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