Singapore GP: Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 in FP1, Rosberg crashes

Verstappen and teammate Daniel Ricciardo showed why Red Bull is seen as favourite for victory this weekend, the Dutchman leading the Australian with a best time of 1:45.823, set on ultrasofts.

Ricciardo finished less than half a tenth behind, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in third over four tenths of a second off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton was the quickest Mercedes driver in fourth, ahead of Rosberg, who rounded out the top five.

Kimi Raikkonen was sixth in the second Ferrari, ahead of the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, again carrying out back-to-back tests of the team's aero packages.

Teammate Daniil Kvyat, Williams' Felipe Massa and Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez completed the top 10.

Even before a time was set, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Jenson Button's McLaren stopped on track less than five minutes into the session.

The Briton was lucky to have the problem near the end of his installation lap and marshals were allowed to push him back in the pitlane.

When the session resumed, it was the Mercedes drivers who first appeared in the timesheets, with Hamilton completing a few laps with the Halo device fitted to his car.

The Briton went quickest with a 1:47.436, both him and Rosberg running on ultrasofts.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso was another driver to run with the Halo today, but the Spaniard did not complete a timed lap with it.

Nico Hulkenberg also ran with the device fitted to his Force India.

Rosberg closed in on Hamilton at the 20-minute mark, but still fell three tenths short, as the Mercedes duo were over 1.8 seconds clear of their closest rival, Raikkonen.

Both the Finn and teammate Vettel improved before the first 30 minutes of running, but were still far from the Mercedes drivers' pace.

Verstappen moved up to fifth place, but then made light contact with the wall, as Vettel jumped up to second place with a run on ultrasofts.

The German and the Dutchman improved moments later, this time the Ferrari driver hitting the wall at Turn 20, the same place where the Red Bull driver had brushed it earlier.

On the 10th lap of his run on ultrasofts, Verstappen went quickest, outpacing Hamilton by 0.034s.

Following his early problems, Button returned to the track before the 40-minute mark, as teammate Alonso stayed at the bottom of the times, having failed to completed a timed lap.

Another man with problems was Romain Grosjean, whose Haas car suffered an issue that sidelined him before he could set a time.

Rosberg returned to the top of the times after the halfway point, the Mercedes driver using a new set of soft tyres to post a 1:46.513.

The Mercedes driver was quickly relegated down the order, however, as first Vettel and then Verstappen and Ricciardo beat his time, the Australian going quickest with a 1:45.872 on ultrasofts.

Verstappen fought back on the following lap, however, to jump to P1 by 0.049s.

With 13 minutes to go, Rosberg's session came to an abrupt end after he crashed against the barriers at Turn 18 when he understeered into the wall after locking up.

Although the German could reverse and continue, the front end of his car was heavily damaged, his front wing gone and one of his tyres punctured.

Free practice 1 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	25	1'45.823
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	27	1'45.872	0.049	0.049
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	22	1'46.287	0.464	0.415
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	24	1'46.426	0.603	0.139
5	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	22	1'46.513	0.690	0.087
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	20	1'46.890	1.067	0.377
7	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	28	1'46.936	1.113	0.046
8	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	29	1'47.683	1.860	0.747
9	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	27	1'48.044	2.221	0.361
10	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	Ferrari	23	1'48.109	2.286	0.065
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	21	1'48.202	2.379	0.093
12	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	28	1'48.214	2.391	0.012
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes	28	1'48.359	2.536	0.145
14	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Mercedes	26	1'48.453	2.630	0.094
15	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari	16	1'49.595	3.772	1.142
16	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda	20	1'49.615	3.792	0.020
17	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Renault	27	1'49.794	3.971	0.179
18	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Renault	29	1'50.263	4.440	0.469
19	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	Mercedes	23	1'51.112	5.289	0.849
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	16	1'51.479	5.656	0.367
21	Esteban Ocon	Manor	Mercedes	33	1'52.379	6.556	0.900
22	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	2