EL1 – Singapore: The Lewis Hamilton surprise

He may be in a Mercedes unwell since the beginning of the year, Lewis Hamilton managed to pull off the first surprise of the weekend by dominating the first free practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix. The Briton, at the end of the session, came out of the woods, reminding us in passing that he was not a four-time winner here by chance. Before that ? It is Max Verstappen who had completely dominated this first session fought at the end of the night. 

As is often the case on a new track or on a route not visited for several years, the Batavian showed off his great starting qualities to stick a second to everyone in the first loops. Only Checo Perez, his teammate, managed to take control away from him mid-session, but that was before the Dutchman in turn switched to soft tires and took him back to 7/10th. 

In the last ten minutes, Lewis Hamilton took first place from his rival by 84 thousandths. This is also the first time this season that the Stevenage native has set the best time in a session since the start of the year! The performance comes as a surprise given comments made by Lewis himself earlier in the session, speaking of "very difficult handling", when George Russell in turn complained about the behavior of his car. 

Charles Leclerc experienced problems in EL1. © Florent Gooden / DPPI

On the Ferrari side, Charles Leclerc only drove half of the session. After getting out very quickly, the Monegasque reported brake problems to his team, and the Team was forced to indulge in a purge while the clock was ticking... At the end of the session, on the soft compound, the driver of the No. 16 single-seater closed in on Verstappen by 3/10ths, offering himself by elsewhere the record for sector 2 and sector 3.

Note thatEsteban Ocon (Alpine) finished best of the others with a 7th place, ahead Lance stroll et Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri). A session marked by several errors. George Russell, first, shot straight into a techpro after a failed braking. But especially Lance Stroll, whose left rear wheel hit at the end of the curve. Carlos Sainz, he suffered a scare by going wide in the last turn, but more fear than harm for the Spanish hunk. 

Lando Norris to show off his new pontoons or rather… HIS new pontoon. The Briton in fact sported a car with a different pontoon on each side, engaging in an inconclusive aero test if we stick to the accounting result: 19th when Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th. The second free practice session will take place this Friday at 15 p.m.