EL3 in Singapore: Vettel leads the charge

The German of Ferrari clocked a 1'38'054 with the Hyper-Soft rubber to dominate the third free practice session on the Marina Bay street circuit. Hag relegates his teammate Kimi Räikkönen to more than three tenths on the second SF71H. 

The Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton et Valtteri Bottas clocking in at more than half a second as they also passed Pirelli's fastest pink-walled tire compound. In spirit Friday afternoon, the Red Bull emerge beyond the second, with Daniel Ricciardo before Max Verstappen. 

Romain Grosjean stands out again at the forefront with the 7th time for Haas, just in front of his compatriot Esteban Ocon whose Force India received some major new features this weekend. His teammate Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso (McLaren) complete the Top 10 of a session where big gaps have widened between the different forces present.

Renault ranks in the second half of the table with Nico Hulkenberg 11th and Carlos Sainz 13th. Slight better on the ranking side for Pierre Gasly et Toro Rosso. The Frenchman, who complained about the balance of his car on Friday, finished 14th. 

For his first weekend of competition since announcing his promotion to Ferrari, Charles Leclerc finished in a modest 16th place in these EL3 but the Monegasque was more than 1,2 seconds behind his garage neighbor Marcus Ericsson, who brought up the rear.

The moment of truth for qualifying is very close as the session will take place at 21:00 p.m. local time (15:00 p.m. in France). If the opening day suggested a three-way fight between Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull, it is difficult to see who could go after the Scuderia and especially Vettel this evening on a field that he loves so much.

Follow the fight for pole position live with commentary on CARhebdo.fr. 

FP3 CLASSIFICATION: @ScuderiaFerrari are looking very strong ahead of qualifying #SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/phSi8bBX62

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2018