Fernando Alonso kept the Mercedes drivers off the top of the times in the final practice session at Singapore.
And the dominant silver cars weren’t second-fastest either, as Daniel Ricciardo set the next best time. The Red Bull driver ended the session just five-hundredths of a second off Alonso after losing time behind Valtteri Bottas at the end of his lap.
Nico Rosberg was the first driver to begin his performance run on super-soft tyres, having ha to abort his run when Pastor Maldonado crashed yesterday. His 1’47.488 was beaten by Alonso shortly afterwards.
Lewis Hamilton couldn’t improve on his team mate’s time, ending up a quarter of a second off Rosberg’s best effort. He had a dramatic moment earlier in the session when he almost spun his Mercedes into the barriers at turn nine. The pair were then split by Jean-Eric Vergne and Sebastian Vettel.
The two Williams drivers showed better pace, both comfortably inside the top ten. They were joined by the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and – surprisingly – Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber.
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’49.056 | 1’47.623 | 1’47.299 | -0.324 | 56 |
| 2 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’50.122 | 1’47.790 | 1’47.350 | -0.44 | 64 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’49.205 | 1’49.075 | 1’47.488 | -1.587 | 69 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’49.178 | 1’47.490 | 1’47.738 | +0.248 | 60 |
| 5 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’50.539 | 1’48.800 | 1’47.693 | -1.107 | 61 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’49.874 | 1’48.041 | 1’47.711 | -0.33 | 49 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’51.953 | 1’49.361 | 1’47.909 | -1.452 | 64 |
| 8 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’50.783 | 1’48.031 | 1’48.226 | +0.195 | 64 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’52.146 | 1’49.971 | 1’48.205 | -1.766 | 62 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’51.217 | 1’48.358 | 1’48.577 | +0.219 | 66 |
| 11 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’52.171 | 1’49.290 | 1’48.422 | -0.868 | 72 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’50.922 | 1’48.435 | 1’48.599 | +0.164 | 67 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’51.604 | 1’48.751 | 1’48.450 | -0.301 | 65 |
| 14 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’50.990 | 1’48.770 | 1’48.637 | -0.133 | 75 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’51.131 | 1’48.653 | 1’49.078 | +0.425 | 68 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’52.906 | 1’49.062 | 1’49.485 | +0.423 | 76 |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’52.237 | 1’49.170 | 1’49.115 | -0.055 | 75 |
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1’52.125 | 1’49.139 | 1’50.149 | +1.01 | 53 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’54.113 | 1’50.612 | 1’50.376 | -0.236 | 56 |
| 20 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1’54.607 | 1’52.075 | 1’50.939 | -1.136 | 71 |
| 21 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1’55.170 | 1’51.558 | 1’51.221 | -0.337 | 54 |
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1’54.475 | 1’52.936 | 1’51.598 | -1.338 | 74 |
2014 Singapore Grand Prix
- Frustrating year led to Singapore outburst – Grosjean
- Hamilton beats Vergne to Driver of the Weekend
- Singapore GP falls short of high 2014 standard
- “Contamination” caused Rosberg’s Singapore failure
- 2014 Singapore Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Damonw
20th September 2014, 12:11
Looking like Rosberg is going to destroy Hamilton just like he did Lastyear, the man is probably the fastest driver out there alongside Ricciardo. Lewis needs to up his game or else he’ll be struggling to make in to the top 3.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
20th September 2014, 12:13
Hamilton isn’t very good at Singapore, but Rosberg is nowhere near Alonso or Ricciardo’s level of performance.
Formula Indonesia (@)
20th September 2014, 12:24
his quick Lap was not really clean as he lost almost 1 second in sector 1 and sector 2, so Alonso and Ricciardo should be behind the Mercedes in the race
Damonw
20th September 2014, 12:28
It’s not clean because he’s getting pushed over the limit by the faster Rosberg who looked super smooth and controlled. I expect a wow lap from Nico today!
Damonw
20th September 2014, 12:26
It’s strange isn’t it but at Monaco and Singapore, two circuits where a driver really stands out Hamilton is just plain average.
I’ve said it all along he’s not all he’s cracked up to be.
john
20th September 2014, 12:34
Hamilton won the second race here, should have won the first but we all know what happened with nelson piquet jr and alonso. And he retired from the lead in 2013, so saying hes average here is being disingenuous.
lethalnz
20th September 2014, 12:41
can say the same for Vettel as well, Ham and Rosb will both improve when they need to, so stop you whining about Ham give the guy a break he is only human in his own way.
one driver that has impressed me is Vergne, hope he can stay that high in qualifying…
Dan
20th September 2014, 12:54
lol that fast guy Ros was how much faster in Monaco? For someone who is the fastest he is not all that please do show your face though after qually. 6Wins to 4 whilst being classified 2 times less. Are you stupid lol?
Damonw
20th September 2014, 12:57
Yeah Rosberg is the quicker driver over 1 lap and blitzes Lewis around this circuit, I expect to not see you on here after quali.
Matts_F1 (@ayrtons6094)
20th September 2014, 15:02
You got your answer I guess!!
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
20th September 2014, 12:32
I feel Mercs were bit heavy on fuel and hence the reason they are not occupying top 2 spots because from FP2 to FP3 mercs just managed to improve by 2 thousands of a second?
As for Riccardo’s level of performance in Singapore, I dont remember any remarkable performance from him on this track throughout his career and meanwhile Rosberg almost had victory in 2008 and he has been very fast here in his career.
Theoddkiwi (@theoddkiwi)
20th September 2014, 12:35
Yep. 1:47.488 vs 1:47.490 really wiping the floor with him.
Damonw
20th September 2014, 12:55
Yep. 1:47.488 vs 1 :47.738 yeah you’re right he is wiping the floor with him. ;)
Chris (@tophercheese21)
20th September 2014, 13:06
You’re going to look pretty foolish if Lewis gets pole lol.
Damonw
20th September 2014, 13:16
I hope he does as I’m a fan but Rosberg owns him around here, Rosberg pole by at least 3 tenths mark my word.
Supremacy (@supremacy)
20th September 2014, 13:38
Hahaha, you’re funny…
Lewis has been faster than Nico all season.
RIC is on VERNE’s level.
The only he’s proving this year is that VET is NOT GREAT!
Damon
20th September 2014, 13:58
You must have been watching a different season to me then, from Monaco onwards Rosberg has been the quicker driver.
Supremacy (@supremacy)
20th September 2014, 15:01
Well Lewis is on Pole!
Solo (@solo)
11th December 2014, 5:25
Well watching this conversation it looks like someone got some egg on the face, lol.
Scalextric (@scalextric)
20th September 2014, 12:16
Some big gaps to team mates in FP3. JEV, ALO and BIA win that competition.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
20th September 2014, 12:25
Also GUT did a very good job (0.7 faster than SUT)! JEV’s lap was amazing, just under 0.4 behind Fernando!
Sauber should sign Bianchi for next season. He is young, fast and will also bring some money to the team.
Patrick (@paeschli)
20th September 2014, 12:36
This could be the most important race of the year for Sauber, they absolutely need to finish 9th.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
20th September 2014, 12:24
ahh, what a shuffle… If Mercedes weren’t sandbagging, this could turn into a very exciting qualy
let’s see who gained what with Options
14 Fernando Alonso 1’47.299 1’49.614 -2,315
2 3 Daniel Ricciardo 1’47.350 1’49.118 -1,768
3 6 Nico Rosberg 1’47.488 1’48,575 -1.087
4 25 Jean-Eric Vergne 1’47.693 1’50.570
5 1 Sebastian Vettel 1’47.711 0.412 -2,877 !!!!
6 44 Lewis Hamilton 1’47.738 1’49.337 -1.626
7 19 Felipe Massa 1’47.909 1’50.091 -2.182
8 77 Valtteri Bottas 1’48.205 1’49.654 -1.449
9 7 Kimi Raikkonen 1’48.226 1’50.222 -1.996
Was really impressed with JEV on options. What a time. Dani was a second behind. Shows how helpful it is to know this track. It’s the first time race for the rookies there, no? Explains Magnussen’s problems too
So, Nico seemed to have been sandbagging. Sky comms said he looked like he wasn’t really pushing on his lap. Was it in regards to his Soft or SuperSoft run? Anyways, there is surely more performance in his car.
Formula Indonesia (@)
20th September 2014, 12:35
STR vs RBR???? VET vs VER????
Patrick (@paeschli)
20th September 2014, 12:38
It’s nice to see the predictions are a lot more mixed than usual. :)
Incognito
20th September 2014, 12:46
Sector time show both Mercs quickest in sector 3, I think they have a lil up there sleeve as does Williams