With George Russell pulling off to the side of the track and retiring from the race last weekend at Sepang, Kimi Antonelli's title lead was able to increase his title advantage to 84 points with only six (as it stands) grands prix remaining.

The Italian could be crowned champion with races to spare if things go his way this weekend and in the next triple-header coming up, and now he puts his car 0.056 seconds clear of his team-mate with a new fastest time of 1:33.830 on the hard tyre.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli might have aborted his flying lap, so the Italian stays in fourth for now. Mercedes team-mate George Russell has it all to do this weekend with that hefty back-of-the-grid penalty, but the Briton has just gone quickest with a time of 1:33.886 on the hard compound. His marker is 0.083 seconds better than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who has headed back to the garage.

Nine laps on the hard for Charles Leclerc in this first practice session and the Monegasque driver moves to the top of the pile with a time of 1:33.969, closely followed by the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, who was earlier highlighting issues with his car but hasn't given us any more updates.

Image source, Getty Images

1. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 1:34.367

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.565

3. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.610

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.636

5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.045

Image source, Getty Images

Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

We are going to see these times tumble quite quickly.

Isack Hadjar has been the most vocal on the team radio so far this session. The Frenchman, who claimed a podium in Baku last month, is telling his Red Bull engineer he has zero confidence to push, adding "the grounding is a disater on the brakes, and my throttle is so slippery."

At the top of the timesheets, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and now Lando Norris have all banked quick laps. as the track continues to evolve. World champion Norris is half a second clear of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in second, with Russell 0.610 seconds off the pace of the McLaren in third.

Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

I don't think I've ever seen this circuit so dusty, apart from the very first time we came here. I wonder if the air pollution has had an effect on that.

It was a funny old race for Ferrari last Sunday.

Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc found themselves falling down the order when the grand prix finally got under way, as their slick tyres in the wet-dry conditions seemed to be the wrong strategy call by the Italian team.

But both drivers clawed their way through the field, and Hamilton managed to claim his sixth podium of the campaign with a third-place finish.

"We're here to attack," said the seven-time world champion. "Qualifying is key, and it would be really great if we could start [Friday] on the right foot, and then just attacking in qualifying. But we have to wait and see."

Hamilton's first offer in this sole practice is a 1:36.437, which places second on the timesheets behind Max Verstappen, who improves again, 0.796 seconds behind the Dutchman.

The hard tyres are bolted on for the majority of drivers who are venturing out of the garage early - Sergio Perez over at Cadillac has headed out on mediums - and George Russell has a message for his Mercedes pit wall already. "The car feels very stiff," he says.

Russell is starting at the back of the grid this weekend as a result of that power-unit issue in Malaysia, so is reverting to the older specification Mercedes in Singapore this weekend.

Team-mate Kimi Antonelli goes quickest with a 1:37.699 but that time is beaten by last week's winner Max Verstappen, who, surprisingly, has never won at Marina Bay, by more than two tenths.

Image source, FIA

The upgrades are light at Marina Bay this weekend - just three of the four big hitters have made adjustments - as most teams look towards the United States Grand Prix in two weeks' time to bring their final upgrade packages of the season.

Mercedes

Front wing, front wing endplate.

McLaren

Front corner.

Red Bull

Front wing, rear wheel bodywork.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Singapore

Image source, Andrew Benson

Walking into the track from my hotel, I have to pass through a large shopping centre, of which there are many in Singapore. A sign at the entrance warns shoppers that the air quality is “grade 2” and they should reduce outside activities. This is a consequence of smog, or haze, in the city, which is causing record levels of air pollution, stemming from wildfires in Indonesia, primarily caused by illegal slash-and-burn practices used by farmers and companies as a cheap method to clear vegetation.

This has been a problem for several years in Singapore but it’s unquestionably the worst I remember it. As Williams driver Carlos Sainz said on Thursday: “It doesn't feel like the healthiest of a place to be breathing right now given the amount of pollution from the fires in Indonesia.”

Sainz pointed out that racing drivers are “breathing the gasoline burn fuel of the car in front for all of our lives so it's debatable whether it's a healthy or unhealthy sport. The haze is a different matter obviously, but we need to go by what the authorities say.”

First practice is green, so if there's a mistake in you, make it now before the sprint activities start.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Sounds

Harry Benjamin, British racing driver Alice Powell and F1 correspondent Andrew Benson will be taking us through the Singapore weekend.

To tune in to commentary, you can either click the 'listen live' tab at the top of the page, take us with you if you're heading out by searching for 5 Sports Extra on the BBC Sounds app, or ask your smart speaker to "play 5 Sports Extra".

Image source, Getty Images

The softest tyres in the Pirelli range have been selected for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, with the C3 as the hard, the C4 as the medium and the C5 as the soft. As this is a sprint event, teams will have 12 sets available for the whole weekend rather than the usual 13.

The 4.927km Marina Bay track has all the usual features of a street circuit and is one of the most physically demanding on the F1 calendar - drivers can lose up to 3kg in body weight over the course of a race. The layout was changed in 2023 to reduce the number of corners from 23 to 19, and track evolution will be significant as each session progresses.

It its race preview, Pirelli adds: "The race takes place at night, with track temperatures ranging between 30 and 35C. Under these conditions, the tyres tend to operate within their working window without any particular overheating concerns."

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Singapore

Image source, Getty Images

George Russell says he will be taking a further grid penalty this season in addition to the one he has been hit with for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

The Briton will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid because he needs to fit a new engine which takes him beyond his permitted number for the season.

But he says that he will have to take another new engine, as soon as a planned upgrade is ready, to get him to the end of the season.

Russell's engine failure in Malaysia scuppered Mercedes' previous plan for him to last out with his older engine until the upgrade was ready, most likely for the next race, the United States Grand Prix in Austin.

Kimi Antonelli will also likely have another back-of-the-grid penalty when the upgraded engine is introduced, following his previous one at the Italian Grand Prix, which he won from 19th on the grid.

Russell will also be reverting to an older specification car in Singapore this weekend.

Image source, Getty Images

With the sprint format offering points on Saturday, Red Bull in fourth could narrow the gap on third-placed McLaren - there are only 18 points between the two teams after Max Verstappen's victory - before Sunday's race with a decent result.

Constructors' leaders Mercedes are clear of second-placed Ferrari by 151 points, while Racing Bulls have the edge over Alpine by 22 points in the fight to finish fifth, following a double points score in Malaysia.

Image source, Getty Images

Kimi Antonelli holds an 84-point advantage over Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the fight to become a maiden world champion this season. The Italian was on the podium in Malaysia while Russell's race ended in heartbreak, and with only seven races of the campaign remaining, it would take something huge to stop the Antonelli being crowned title winner this year.

Max Verstappen's first win and eighth podium last weekend has placed the Dutchman level on 188 points with reigning world champion Lando Norris in fifth, with the two drivers also three points off Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who sits fourth.

Image source, Getty Images

The Singapore Grand Prix is making its debut on the sprint race calendar this year and will be the sixth and final event of the 2026 campaign.

We'll be setting the grid for Saturday's 21-lap race later on, which means first practice coming up is the only dress rehearsal teams and drivers will get before the competitive action begins.

Marina Bay is also the original night race in Formula 1, so they'll be no representative session under the floodlights to gather some crucial data before Sunday's 62-lap grand prix, which starts at 9pm local time (tomorrow's sprint takes place at 5pm local).

World champion Lando Norris was asked on Thursday if this will present a challenge during the weekend, but he replied he hadn't even thought of it. "I didn't even know," he added. With the hot and humid tempertaures not dropping too much, Norris said Singapore tends to be "more consistent" and there is "not much difference" between the sessions.

Lorraine McKenna
BBC Sport Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Hello, folks. The third race of this triple-header sees us pack up from last weekend's grand prix in Malaysia and make the short trip to the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. So short, in fact, Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas decided to cycle the entire route, arriving in the paddock just in time for his media duties on Thursday.

We left off in Sepang with Max Verstappen returning to the top step of the podium for the first time since the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year. The Red Bull driver converted his first pole of the campaign into victory after a chaotic event which featured heavy rain in the build-up, a software bug causing formation lap mayhem and George Russell's title hopes pretty much dashed because of an engine-related DNF.

With Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli finishing second in Malaysia, Russell now finds himself 84 points behind his Mercedes team-mate in the drivers' championship. And the news doesn't get any better for the Briton, as boss Toto Wolff confirmed Russell will start from the back of the grid on Sunday after receiving a penalty for taking a new power-unit this weekend.