As Saturday’s final hour-long practice session started on time, heavy rain on the streets of Singapore forced the pit lane to remain closed for the first half.
When the pit lane finally opened at 6:30 p.m. local time, there were just 30 minutes of testing left to get a taste of the wet conditions.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was the first man to venture onto the track, inevitably bolting on Pirelli’s solid rain tires for an exploratory run.
As Gasly set a conservative timed lap of 2m09.894s, he was joined by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda and the six cars from Alfa Romeo, McLaren and Aston Martin.
But F1’s efforts to clear the track in the first 30 minutes appeared to pay off as Alfa’s Valtteri Bottas was quick to suggest the intermediates were a better option.
When reigning world champion Max Verstappen joined the fray with 20 minutes left, intermediates were indeed the tire of choice on his Red Bull.
On the intermediates, Verstappen took 1.7 seconds from Carlos Sainz, who had been the fastest of the riders in the wet, and that prompted his colleagues to follow the Dutchman’s example and use the greenwall tires from of this moment.
Verstappen generally stayed in the lead despite being momentarily jumped by Gasly and then Ferrari man Charles Leclerc as track conditions quickly improved and times dropped by seconds to that time.
Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri AT03
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
The runaway championship leader was also the first driver under the two-minute mark, but Leclerc then took the lead with a 1m58.899s.
Leclerc continued and set a 1m57.782 late in the session, while Verstappen’s quickest effort put him five tenths behind.
Behind the pair, Sainz took third place, a full second over his team-mate, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso best of the rest in fourth.
Sergio Perez interrupted a late flyer to stay fifth, followed by Aston’s Lance Stroll and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Sebastian Vettel finished eighth in second Aston, with George Russell leading the Mercedes drivers in ninth and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 10.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took 11th place, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton dropped from sixth to 12th after just seven laps.
Gasly finished 13th ahead of Mick Schumacher and his teammate Tsunoda.
Lando Norris finished 16th for McLaren followed by Alex Albon’s first Williams.
The Alfa Romeo duo Bottas and Zhou Guanyu backed up the timesheets, only ahead of second-placed Williams of Nicholas Latifi.
Results Singapore GP F1 – FP3
As Saturday’s final hour-long practice session started on time, heavy rain on the streets of Singapore forced the pit lane to remain closed for the first half.
When the pit lane finally opened at 6:30 p.m. local time, there were just 30 minutes of testing left to get a taste of the wet conditions.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was the first man to venture onto the track, inevitably bolting on Pirelli’s solid rain tires for an exploratory run.
As Gasly set a conservative timed lap of 2m09.894s, he was joined by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda and the six cars from Alfa Romeo, McLaren and Aston Martin.
But F1’s efforts to clear the track in the first 30 minutes appeared to pay off as Alfa’s Valtteri Bottas was quick to suggest the intermediates were a better option.
When reigning world champion Max Verstappen joined the fray with 20 minutes left, intermediates were indeed the tire of choice on his Red Bull.
On the intermediates, Verstappen took 1.7 seconds from Carlos Sainz, who had been the fastest of the riders in the wet, and that prompted his colleagues to follow the Dutchman’s example and use the greenwall tires from of this moment.
Verstappen generally stayed in the lead despite being momentarily jumped by Gasly and then Ferrari man Charles Leclerc as track conditions quickly improved and times dropped by seconds to that time.
Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri AT03
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
The runaway championship leader was also the first driver under the two-minute mark, but Leclerc then took the lead with a 1m58.899s.
Leclerc continued and set a 1m57.782 late in the session, while Verstappen’s quickest effort put him five tenths behind.
Behind the pair, Sainz took third place, a full second over his team-mate, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso best of the rest in fourth.
Sergio Perez interrupted a late flyer to stay fifth, followed by Aston’s Lance Stroll and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Sebastian Vettel finished eighth in second Aston, with George Russell leading the Mercedes drivers in ninth and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 10.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took 11th place, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton dropped from sixth to 12th after just seven laps.
Gasly finished 13th ahead of Mick Schumacher and his teammate Tsunoda.
Lando Norris finished 16th for McLaren followed by Alex Albon’s first Williams.
The Alfa Romeo duo Bottas and Zhou Guanyu backed up the timesheets, only ahead of second-placed Williams of Nicholas Latifi.
Results Singapore GP F1 – FP3