Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen Scorches in Friday Practice for Singapore Grand Prix

The Finn is making the best of his remaining time in a red car and hopes here to make up for a lost opportunity in Italy.

By James Gilboy

Updated on Sep 14, 2018

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www.thedrive.com

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Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen topped the timing sheets in Friday’s free practice for the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix.

His closest competitor at this point in the weekend appears to be Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton, a narrow .011 of a second behind. Regional weather forecasts don’t portend rain during any on-track sessions of the weekend, which could favor Räikkönen given Hamilton’s fame for wet-weather performance. Next closest is Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, the Dutchman lapping more than a half-second adrift of the leaders. Trailing under a tenth behind is his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who is followed by Mercedes-AMG’s Valtteri Bottas to the tune of just six-hundredths.

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Max Verstappen completed Friday as the third-fastest driver with hopes of a better outing than 2017 when he crashed with Räikkönen and Vettel on Lap 1, Turn 1.  , Getty Images

Räikkönen’s teammate Sebastian Vettel is normally at home on the streets of Singapore, his four victories there making him the winningest driver on the Marina Bay Street Circuit, but a small-yet-consequential brush with the wall sidelined him less than halfway through the second practice session. Missing practice for this event could cripple the German’s chances at an important race win, which he needs to stay in the title fight. Losing the win at what is historically one of his best tracks (2017 notwithstanding) will do his title bid no good, and he has at least 1.3 seconds to make up in FP3 on Saturday if he wants a shot at pole.

Both Renault drivers are provisionally top-ten finishers, split by Haas’ Romain Grosjean and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who like his former teammate Räikkönen is making the best of the remainder of his season, if not his Formula 1 career.

A full index of each driver’s best lap time and margin of improvement between sessions can be found below.

  1. Kimi Räikkönen/Ferrari – 1:38.699, -1.787 from FP1
  2. Lewis Hamilton/Mercedes – 1:38.710, -2.522 from FP1
  3. Max Verstappen/Red Bull – 1:39.221, -0.691 from FP1
  4. Daniel Ricciardo/Red Bull – 1:39.309, -0.402 from FP1
  5. Valtteri Bottas/Mercedes – 1:39.368, -2.061 from FP1
  6. Sebastian Vettel/Ferrari – 1:39.997, +0.636 in FP2
  7. Carlos Sainz Jr./Renault – 1:40.274, -1.055 from FP1
  8. Romain Grosjean/Haas – 1:40.384, -1.724 from FP1
  9. Fernando Alonso/McLaren – 1:40.459, -2.171 from FP1
  10. Nico Hülkenberg/Renault – 1:40.668, -0.437 from FP1
  11. Sergio Perez/Force India – 1:40.774, -1.638 from FP1
  12. Marcus Ericsson/Alfa Romeo Sauber – 1:40.812, -1.596 from FP1
  13. Esteban Ocon/Force India – 1:40.870, -2.307 from FP1
  14. Charles Leclerc/Alfa Romeo Sauber – 1:41.062, -0.973 from FP1
  15. Kevin Magnussen/Haas – 1:41.154, -1.298 from FP1
  16. Stoffel Vandoorne/McLaren – 1:41.164, -3.996 from FP1
  17. Brendon Hartley/Toro Rosso-Honda – 1:41.542, -1.943 from FP1
  18. Pierre Gasly/Toro Rosso-Honda – 1:41.615, -1.625 from FP1
  19. Lance Stroll/Williams – 1:42.141, -1.708 from FP1
  20. Sergey Sirotkin/Williams – 1:42.181, -1.855 from FP1