Russell fastest in 'downgraded' Mercedes in only Singapore practice
George Russell's older-spec Mercedes topped the only practice session of Formula 1's 2026 Singapore Grand Prix weekend.
But though Kimi Antonelli's upgraded version was only seventh and 1.3 seconds slower, there's little that can be concluded from that given the very different ends to their sessions.
While Russell was among those who took softs at the end of an hour most had spent entirely on hard tyres, Antonelli switched to mediums - and then went down an escape road dodging traffic, including Russell, on his last proper lap.
During the hard tyre running, the two versions of the Mercedes had been just 0.056s apart, Antonelli first and Russell third with Charles Leclerc's Ferrari between them.
Leclerc was second again to Russell on soft tyres at the end, 0.198s off the Mercedes' 1m32.274s benchmark.
The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were third and fifth with Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari between them.
Max Vertappen's Red Bull was the fastest medium-tyre runner in sixth.
Various run-off area visits triggered brief yellow flags during the hour, with the only major interruption being a virtual safety car to retrieve Nico Hulkenberg's Audi, which suffered a gearbox problem and pulled off the main straight into the pit entry.
FP1 result
1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m32.274s
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.198s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.273s
4 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.499s
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.564s
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.732s
7 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.251s
8 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.449s
9 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.764s
10 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.881s
11 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.057s
12 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.202s
13 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.207s
14 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2.221s
15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2.377s
16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +2.462s
17 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.531s
18 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +2.610s
19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.709s
20 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +2.994s
21 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.025s
22 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +3.346s
