2023-09-15 10:33:25
It was under the pale light of the end of the day that the weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix began, a night round of the championship with the first free practice sessions of each day taking place under the sun.
Like every weekend, these EL1s allowed us to take a look at the new features brought by the teams. Red Bull brought a new floor and new rear wing side fins. Ferrari has brought a revised rear wing specifically for the twisty Singapore circuit.
On the Mercedes side, there were only front brake ducts modified for the heat constraints of the track and the Singapore race. The Alpine A523 received new sidepod entrances amplifying the downwash, with new mirror supports and larger cooling vents. Its beam wing was also modified.
At McLaren, it was literally a new version of the single-seater that was in Singapore. Among the new features were the front wing fins, the sidepod air intakes, the engine cover and sidepods, the Halo, the floor, a new suspension geometry and scoops at the rear, side fins. rear wing and a modified beam wing.
Alfa Romeo F1 brought new vertical fins in front of the floor, a new diffuser, modified rear brake scoops and a slightly revised front wing to provide more downforce. Aston Martin only brought a modified deflector at the height of the rear wheels.
AlphaTauri also brought a very different version of its car. The floor and its edges have been modified, as well as the diffuser, the rear suspension and the brake scoops. But above all, the AT04 received new air intakes on its sidepods, which changed to find a shape very close to those of the Red Bull RB19.
Finally, Williams brought a new flap to the front wing to adapt the balance of the car on this high-downforce track. As at Monza two weeks ago, Haas F1 is the only team not to bring anything new to Singapore, since it is working on its B version for Austin.
A studious session on a revised route
Pierre Gasly then Lando Norris set the first benchmark on medium tires, the Briton setting a 1’37″895. Max Verstappen placed third on hard tires, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen, while George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hülkenberg and Valtteri Bottas placed themselves in the provisional top 10 in the first minutes.
Bottas and his medium tires then moved up to third position, while Alex Albon placed 11th. Norris then improved to 1’35″782, showing that this first run was far from representative. Sainz moved up to second and Sergio Pérez third.
Verstappen was complaining of problems when downshifting, when Leclerc moved up to third in turn. Esteban Ocon placed fifth ahead of Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, before Oscar Piastri moved up to seventh.
Hamilton improved to fourth, while Verstappen moved up to fifth. Fernando Alonso took seventh position. Liam Lawson was learning the circuit and remained at the bottom of the order, while Pérez complained regarding not seeing the apex points and requested an adjustment to his seat.
Sainz then took the best time in 1’35″718, still on hard tires, before being beaten by Leclerc by 35 thousandths, in 1’35″683. Tsunoda moved up to seventh ahead of Hülkenberg, while Pérez made another mistake at the first corner.
On medium tires, Norris got in between the Ferraris, before Leclerc got back in front. Hamilton and his hard tires took the lead once more in 1’35″571, before Norris came back in front in 1’34″776. Pérez placed second, while Lance Stroll was last by more than 5 seconds.
Gasly was the first to put on the soft tires, and the Alpine driver placed second. Russell took the best time on soft tires in 1’34″065, beaten by Sainz in 1’33″944 with the same tires.
Hamilton moved up to third, still on the same tires. With his car covered in FloVis paint, Norris set the best time – also on soft tires – in 1’33″522.
Leclerc improved to 1’33″350, before Verstappen placed second. The two Aston Martin drivers finally put on soft tires, while Alonso and Stroll were 19th and 20th following having only driven on hard tires. Sainz placed second, and Verstappen third.
The ranking no longer moved at the end of the session, as the sun set over Singapore, and it was Leclerc who finished in the lead ahead of Sainz, Verstappen, Norris and Hamilton. The five drivers are separated by two tenths.
Russell follows ahead of Pérez, Alonso, Tsunoda and Ocon. Gasly is 12th ahead of Albon, while Lawson is 16th. While Norris is in the top 5, Piastri is 19th and we suspect that there is a difference in program at McLaren.
Note that the session was disrupted by two yellow flags for lizards on the track. This is not the first time we have seen this, Max Verstappen having already seen one on the track seven years ago, but they seemed to want to return to the tarmac of the circuit on several occasions.
Pos.PiloteVoitureTempsTours 01 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-23 1:33.350 25 02 Carlos Sainz Ferrari SF-23 1:33.428 24 03 Max Verstappen Red Bull Honda RBPT RB19 1:33.476 22 04 Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes MCL60 1:33.522 24 05 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes W14 1:33.540 21 06 George Russell Mercedes W14 1:33.695 14 07 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Honda RBPT RB19 1:33.725 22 08 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Mercedes AMR23 1:33.974 28 09 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Honda RBPT AT04 1:34.042 25 10 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault A523 1:34.066 24 11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes AMR23 1:34.568 25 12 Pierre Gasly Alpine Renault A523 1:34.639 23 13 Alex Albon Williams Mercedes FW45 1:34.657 19 14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari C43 1:34.802 25 15 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari VF-23 1:34.887 23 16 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri Honda RBPT AT04 1:34.894 27 17 Nico Hülkenberg Haas Ferrari VF-23 1:34.985 22 18 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo Ferrari C43 1:35.456 25 19 Oscar Piastri McLaren Mercedes MCL60 1:35.474 22 20 Logan Sargeant Williams Mercedes FW45 1:35.778 24
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#Formula #Singapore #FP1 #Leclerc #takes #Ferrari #double
