Red Bull quickest as Rosberg crashes in Singapore

2016 Singapore Grand Prix first practice

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The Red Bull pair set the pace as practice began in Singapore but the Mercedes drivers didn’t set their quickest lap times on the soft tyres.

Less than five hundredths of a second separated pace setter Max Verstappen from team mate Daniel Ricciardo after their second runs on the ultra-soft rubber as night fell in Singapore.

The two Mercedes were six-tenths of a second slower, having used the soft compound tyres for their quickest runs. They were separated from the Red Bulls by Sebastian Vettel, the Ferrari driver on of several to clip the wall at turn 21 in his pursuit of a quicker time.

Nico Rosberg had a more substantial brush with the barriers at turn 18. He went straight-on at the corner, breaking the front wing on his Mercedes.

Both Toro Rosso drivers featured in the top ten, the pair separated by the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Esteban Gutierrez was a promising tenth for Haas, but team mate Romain Grosjean was forced to stop early in the session as the team investigated a leak on his car.

Jenson Button was fortunate to set a time after his car stopped on its installation lap. However the marshals were able to push him into the pit lane, from where he later rejoined the action.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
133Max VerstappenRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’45.82325
23Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’45.8720.04927
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1’46.2870.46422
444Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’46.4260.60324
56Nico RosbergMercedes1’46.5130.69022
67Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’46.8901.06720
755Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’46.9361.11328
826Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Ferrari1’47.6831.86029
919Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’48.0442.22127
1021Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’48.1092.28623
1114Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’48.2022.37921
1211Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’48.2142.39128
1327Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’48.3592.53628
1477Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’48.4532.63026
1512Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’49.5953.77216
1622Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’49.6153.79220
1730Jolyon PalmerRenault1’49.7943.97127
1820Kevin MagnussenRenault1’50.2634.44029
1994Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’51.1125.28923
209Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’51.4795.65616
2131Esteban OconManor-Mercedes1’52.3796.55633

First practice visual gaps

Max Verstappen – 1’45.823

+0.049 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’45.872

+0.464 Sebastian Vettel – 1’46.287

+0.603 Lewis Hamilton – 1’46.426

+0.690 Nico Rosberg – 1’46.513

+1.067 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’46.890

+1.113 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’46.936

+1.860 Daniil Kvyat – 1’47.683

+2.221 Felipe Massa – 1’48.044

+2.286 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’48.109

+2.379 Fernando Alonso – 1’48.202

+2.391 Sergio Perez – 1’48.214

+2.536 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’48.359

+2.630 Valtteri Bottas – 1’48.453

+3.772 Felipe Nasr – 1’49.595

+3.792 Jenson Button – 1’49.615

+3.971 Jolyon Palmer – 1’49.794

+4.440 Kevin Magnussen – 1’50.263

+5.289 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’51.112

+5.656 Marcus Ericsson – 1’51.479

+6.556 Esteban Ocon – 1’52.379

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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29 comments on “Red Bull quickest as Rosberg crashes in Singapore”

  1. The long run laptimes from Max were AVG 0.3 seconds faster than his teammate and 0.550 faster than Mercedes and Ferrari

    1. Max has an upgraded engine whereas Ricciardo is still running old-spec http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-alone-in-getting-upgraded-renault-engine-827080/

      1. And Ricciardo will probably get an upgraded engine before quali.

          1. Oh, interesting.

          2. Max doesn’t have an upgraded engine, just a new one.

          3. From the official Formula 1 website: http://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2016/9/friday-in-singapore—team-by-team.html

            ” Verstappen was the only Renault driver to get the latest version of the engine, on which three tokens had been spent for undisclosed internal modifications. He was fastest in FP1, and fast again in FP1, while Ricciardo was right on his tail both times with the old power unit, so things are looking good for the Milton Keynes team at this early stage. ”

            And FerM, when you state stuff like they’re facts, provide references please.

  2. Man! Just love Singapore!

  3. Interesting session, we’ll wait to see how relevant this session was. The session wasn’t special for Croft’s and Kravitz’s offensive jokes. I know there’s no C4 this weekend but is their commentary or any other English language commentary available? Any other world channel that does not use Sky’s team?

    1. @peartree Offensive, such as?

      I don’t mind Crofty at all, Kravitz just get’s on my nerves, but offensive is probably crediting them both a bit too much!

    2. @peartree, I feel your pain. I have come to dislike the sky comment team more and more especially in FP sessions. Even Di Resta was a positive influence to balance it out a bit for me.

      I guess you could try to find the US coverage, although they are probably US IP-blocked and are sure to have a solid chunk of commercial brakes. And it seems people from the US are divided on whether the NBC team is better or Sky does a better job.

      1. i’ll take Sky over NBC any day. Kravitz is annoying to the point you wanna slap him, … but what can you do.

    3. Care to share a few of their pearls? In India we get only Channel 4 coverage/commentary.

      1. Channel Channel 4 Channel 4 is better than sky imho (apart from brundle)

        In the Netherlands it’s the worst however! The Dutch commentator is missing things left right and center and supporting team isn’t hindered by an knowledge whatsoever. On top of that, it’s the VES show because VES sells here. Im a Max supporter but it’s an annoying as hell.

        1. I agree Jeffrey, Brundle is on the dark side though, a shame indeed. Fp1 was a little disgusting, but FP2 was fine. @psynrg @baron I’d have to attain a copy of fp1, fp2 was fine and spread some prejudicelights, or biaslights ordescriminationlights. You are right Baron, Ted is not funny, he’s like the Charlie Hebdo of F1, if it wasn’t for that I would have no problem with Ted, however I cannot say the same of Herbert. It’s Banter they say but it’s actually pillory and mockery. It’s either Italian prejudice, English bias, derogatory comparisons, presumptuous behaviour, egotistical stand point. I just want to watch f1, have a good light hearted time. When Croft, Ted and Herbert huddle up they remind me of the bully me and the bullied me. I’m not a teenager any more, I’m not to say how other people should live their lives, I would however expect Croft Ted and Herbert to be more civilized and mature.

      2. wait, Channel 4 does live commentary on this race? Wow, got to try and find that!

        1. I think there’s still commentary on 5 live. Just have the TV on silent.

        2. C4 do live commentary for every race, it wouldn’t make sense to just have them come in and commentate over the highlights. You’ll notice Ben Edwards frequently reads the running order and the leaves a gap, that’s so they can use it as an edit point for the highlights.

    4. Yes, come on, spill the beans. Offensive jokes as in what? Give me a clue so I can feel offended too. I don’t get the channel so I have no idea, but I didn’t think Kravitz was clever enough to be offensive…

    5. BBC Radio 5 Live has English commentary.

  4. Torro rosso might be having one of the best chassis. Shame they are using year old engine. McLaren needs to get back to the drawing room or change their aero team.

  5. S -> US must be a multiple of the 0.6 difference.
    Will be interesting every session throughout this weekend.

    1. Not too sure that is true for Mercedes though @coldfly. We saw in recent years that on tracks like this and with warm weather often Mercedes had less to gain from that step because they struggled not to overcook their tyres over a lap.

      But it certainly looks like it’s tight enough to have a bit of fun this weekend!

    2. Most likely the US just doesn’t work on the Mercedes, the S works very good though. So if they were to drive on the same compound Mercedes would be ahead if that were the soft but Red Bull if it were to be the US.

  6. Mercedes set their best time on soft tires and still only 0.6 seconds behind red bull which set their best time on ultrasoft tires! That’s a difference of two compounds. Guess who has the advantage as of now!? Yes it is Mercedes if it holds up like this!!!

  7. Can you imagine what Sainz could do if he had a 2015 Ferrari engine,…

    1. Sure can, probably remarkably similar to what he does now :p

    2. But he already has a 2015 Ferrari engine :)
      I think you meant 2016.

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