🔗 Share this article Fernando Alonso Tops First Practice at Singapore Marina Bay Street Circuit 3-5 October features the main event beginning at 1pm BST on race day. Real-time commentary streamed on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and mobile app. Opening Round Highlights Aston Martin's Spanish veteran set the pace beating Monegasque driver and Dutch ace in FP1 for the Singapore Grand Prix. The British team's championship contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris wrapped up the session in mid-table positions. The young Australian was over two tenths speedier than his teammate. The experienced Spaniard was a slim margin in front of Leclerc and a clear gap clear than Verstappen. The Italian squad's Lewis Hamilton was just outside the top three. Weekend Outlook Few anticipate that the Silverstone-based team will be contenders for P1. Nonetheless, the team are confident of a strong showing on a tight circuit that is ideally suited to their chassis, which performs better when plenty of downforce are needed. Veteran racer Fernando is also known as a Marina Bay expert, and typically performs well on the Singapore circuit. But he was almost certainly running a lighter load or a more aggressive setting than his rivals, or a combination, to post the fastest lap. Team Updates His team-mate Lance Stroll was a significant margin behind in P18. The Canadian had problems with his cockpit during the initial runs and was also evaluating experimental parts. Opening practice in Marina Bay is not reflective of later performance for qualifying and race as it is held in afternoon sun in late afternoon, while qualifying and the grand prix are staged under floodlights. Championship Standings The McLaren driver is ahead of Norris by a quarter-century with remaining rounds to go heading into the event in Singapore. The Woking-based team are in position to wrap up the constructors' championship on the weekend. Sole scenario they can not tie it up in Singapore is if the Silver Arrows outscore them by 31 points or Ferrari do so by a similar margin. Rival Teams The energy drink brand's team are positive of a positive weekend after Max's wins in Italy and Azerbaijan preceding this weekend. The team breathed a sigh when drizzle coming down before the session stopped by the time the cars emerged on a circuit that had not been wet. Team consultant Red Bull's advisor commented before the session that they needed a dry hour to get underway on fine-tuning their car configuration for the event.