Ferrari dominated Friday Practice for 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, as Carlos Sainz finished the day fastest.
Charles Leclerc topped FP1 in a session disrupted by three lengthy yellow flag periods due to lizards on track at Turn 9, as he headed Sainz.
Sainz however responded in FP2 to set the pace on the opening day of the weekend, as he edged out Leclerc by just 0.018 seconds in a dominant day for Ferrari, who recorded one-two finishes in both sessions.
Now, here is a full roundup of FP1 and FP2 for the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.
FP1
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was first out on track but it was Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who initially set the benchmark time of 1m 39.308 on medium tyres in the fifth minute, but was displaced by McLaren’s Lando Norris who posted 1m 37.895 on the medium tyre a minute later.
Norris quickly lowered his benchmark time in the ninth minute by just over two seconds to 1m 35.782, but was displaced by Leclerc who produced 1m 35.683 on the hard tyre in the 14th minute.
Lewis Hamilton however went 0.112s quicker three minutes later only for Norris to respond with 1m 34.776 to go quickest again a further three minutes later.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first driver to switch to the soft tyre and posted 1m 34.980 to go second behind Norris at the halfway mark of the session.
The last half-hour of FP1 however was disrupted by three separate yellow flag incidents at Turn 9, due to lizards crossing the track, which prompted Max Verstappen to joke over team radio to Red Bull that “Godzilla had a kid.”
The first yellow flag came out in the 33rd minute and lasted three minutes from which on the restart, George Russell, Sainz and Hamilton all briefly went fastest, before Norris set 1m 33.522 to go top in the 37th minute.
Leclerc however posted a session-topping 1m 33.350 in the 40th minute as he finished fastest from Sainz in a Ferrari one-two, ahead of Verstappen who headed Norris and Hamilton as the top five were split by just 0.190s at the end of the session.
Bottas and Guanyu Zhou – who has renewed his contract for 2024 – set their best lap times on the medium tyre in 14 and 18th positions respectively.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 33.350 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.078 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.126 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.172 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.190 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.345 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.375 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.624 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.692 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.716 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.218 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.289 |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.307 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.452 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.537 |
| 16 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | + 1.544 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.635 |
| 18 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 2.106 |
| 19 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 2.124 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 2.428 |
FP2
Sargeant was first out on track and set the initial benchmark time of 1m 36.897 which was rapidly displaced by several drivers, as Sainz topped the opening flying laps with 1m 34.150 in the sixth minute.
Alonso went quicker in the ninth minute with 1m 33.964 but Sainz responded a minute later to go quickest by 0.661s, ahead of his Ferrari teammate – Leclerc who slotted into second behind the Spaniard.
Leclerc however topped the second round of flying laps with 1m 32.974 ahead of Sainz and Tsunoda, whilst Bottas, Gasly, Ocon and Albon ran the hard tyre in the opening stint but Albon’s session ended early with a power unit issue.
Once attention turned to soft tyre Qualifying simulation, Sainz was amongst the first drivers to go for a low-fuel run and set a session-topping 1m 32.120 in the 28th minute, as Leclerc fell 0.018s shy of his teammate.
Russell meanwhile managed to finish third quickest after he opted for a second flier which saw him improve to finish ahead of Alonso and Hamilton who rounded out the top five in front of; Norris, Perez, Verstappen, Magnussen and Bottas.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m 32.120 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.018 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.235 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.358 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.465 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.591 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.692 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.732 |
| 9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.897 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.985 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.019 |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | + 1.165 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.241 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.270 |
| 15 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.341 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.357 |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.455 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.704 |
| 19 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 2.207 |
| 20 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 3.438 |
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