Singapore: Rosberg heads Mercedes 1-2 in FP1
Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap time in the first free practice before the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Singapore. The Mercedes driver was the only one who managed to set a result of under 1:48seconds, beating the reigning champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.
After the first 30 minutes of the session, Nico Rosberg looked almost unbeatable, setting a lap time of 1:49.184 seconds. In one moment, he was almost two seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton who twice ran wide, but the championship leader reduced the gap to 0.493s, which was the third best result of the moment with Daniel Ricciardo in second spot 0.412s behind Rosberg who continued with his confident driving.
He set a new best lap time of 1:48.004 seconds, challenging his teammate who couldn’t beat the time as he was 0.310s slower. Sebastian Vettel was third— 0.490s behind Rosberg— pushing Ricciardo down to fourth. Before we went into the last 30 minutes of the first free practice, Rosberg once again improved the best lap time to 1:47.995seconds.
During the last half hour nothing special happened. Vettel had a small accident as he missed the apex and went straight on, but was able to stop before making contact with barriers. A couple of minutes later, American rookie Alexander Rossi had a crash when he hit the wall causing the red flag to come out, which meant the session was over. Rossi was unhurt, but his car was badly damaged.
