Red Bull sets pace in opening Singapore GP practice

He was just over two-tenths ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, followed four-tenths back by the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

And drivers’ championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who retired in last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, was unable to finish the second session after an issue with hydraulics.

However, Rosberg, who is here to hunt down the two-point lead Hamilton…

“They fixed it, it was a small thing”, Hamilton said.

Nico Rosberg clocked the fastest time of the day in the second free practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday in a race that appears to be shaping up as a three-way battle between Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was next fastest, 0.464 off the pace.

But Hamilton said he felt they had closed the gap on the slower street circuit which negates Mercedes power and aerodynamic dominance.

Speaking about the pace of Mercedes and Red Bull, he said: “Both looked very strong, I think Mercedes is the favourite and I think we are in the same boat at Red Bull, we try to get everything in line and line our ducks up in the right way and hopefully we can have a shot”.

“The difference with this venue is it plays a little more to our strengths than some of the previous races”, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told reporters after practice.

Hamilton, who had run the Halo cockpit protection device for the first time during first practice, missed the final 25 minutes of the second session after having to pit due to a hydraulic problem which could not be solved in time for him to return to the circuit.

“The first session was going okay until I hit the wall at Turn 18”.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and Chase Carey of Liberty Media, the sport’s new chairman, arrived at the track in time for second practice and would have liked what they saw at the spectacular night event set against the skyscape of downtown Singapore.

“We didn’t manage it previous year and, although we believe we now understand why, only performance on the racetrack can prove our conclusions right”.

Verstappen’s best lap – a 1m 44.532s – left him just 0.105secs off Raikkonen and only 0.025secs up on Ricciardo.

At last year’s edition, Mercedes weren’t competitive and lost out to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for victory. The vehicle was handling pretty good, so that’s not so bad.