Singapore GP Practice 1: Leclerc Leads, Norris Second
Charles Leclerc finished the first practice session of the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix on top, with Lando Norris in second and Carlos Sainz third.
The first practice session of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship’s 18th round, the Singapore GP, began under partly cloudy skies.
Some drivers opted for medium compound tires, while others chose the hard compound.
In the first five minutes, Lewis Hamilton, running on hard tires, posted a time of 1:36.128 to take the early lead. However, his time was soon beaten by Lando Norris, who set a 1:35.522 on medium tires.
As drivers continued to put in laps and shuffle the leaderboard, Norris put in a stellar lap, going purple in all three sectors and clocking in at 1:33.903 after 10 minutes. At this stage, Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri had yet to take to the track.
Sergio Perez locked up and had to take the escape road, briefly bringing out yellow flags. Upon rejoining the track, Perez disrupted Oscar Piastri’s fast lap, forcing the Australian to abandon his attempt.
Charles Leclerc then took over the lead with a lap of 1:32.702 on hard tires, dethroning Norris.
With about 32 minutes remaining, Norris reclaimed the top spot with a lap on soft tires.
As more drivers switched to soft tires and began setting fast laps, Norris, Sainz, Tsunoda, Verstappen, and Albon formed the top five after their initial runs on softs.
With 10 minutes left in the session, Leclerc set a 1:31.763 on soft tires, beating Norris by just 0.076 seconds to retake the lead.
Leclerc was followed by Norris, Sainz, Verstappen, and Tsunoda in the standings.
Piastri brushed the barriers at Turn 10 with about eight minutes to go but escaped without any damage and continued on.
As the session concluded, no one was able to beat Leclerc’s time, and the Ferrari driver finished Practice 1 at the top of the leaderboard.
The top 10 were: Leclerc, Norris, Sainz, Verstappen, Tsunoda, Piastri, Ricciardo, Albon, Alonso, and Ocon.
Final Session Results:
