Alonso Leads Opening Session at Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore Grand Prix
This weekend features the race starting at British Summer Time on Sunday.
Live commentary streamed on digital platforms and BBC Sport.
FP1 Results Highlights
Aston Martin's two-time champion was fastest beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Dutch ace in FP1 for the Marina Bay race.
McLaren's drivers Australian rookie and British talent finished the session in fifth and sixth.
Piastri was a notable margin faster than the Briton.
The experienced Spaniard was a tenth and a half leading of Leclerc and over a quarter of a second faster than the Red Bull star.
The Italian squad's British icon was fourth fastest.
Weekend Outlook
It is not expected that the Silverstone-based team will be contenders for P1.
Nonetheless, the outfit are confident of a improved performance on a low-speed track that is ideally suited to their chassis, which performs better when significant amounts of downforce are called for.
Two-time champion Fernando is also known as a Marina Bay expert, and typically performs well on the night race venue.
Yet he was almost certainly operating with less fuel or a increased power than his competitors, or a combination, to achieve that pace.
Session Details
His team-mate Lance Stroll was 1.918secs slower in the lower order.
The Canadian had problems with his driving position early in the session and was also running experimental parts.
The first session in Singapore is not representative of conditions later in the weekend as it is held in bright conditions in early evening, while grid-deciding session and the race are held after dark.
Points Situation
Piastri has an advantage over his teammate by 25 points with seven races ahead entering the Grand Prix in the Lion City.
McLaren are set to secure the team title on the weekend.
Sole scenario they can not tie it up in this race is if Mercedes surpass them by thirty-one or the Scuderia manage it by a similar margin.
Rival Teams
The energy drink brand's team are positive of a good performance after recent successes in Italy and Azerbaijan leading into this event.
It was a relief when precipitation occurring prior to running abated by the point the machines went out on a surface that had stayed clear.
Senior figure Helmut Marko stated ahead of practice that they wanted a uninterrupted running to get underway on fine-tuning their chassis settings for the weekend.
