FP3: The Red Demons Dominate The Charts

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

Sebastian Vettel topped the final practice session in Singapore. 2 of our writers wrote the report from their perspective to give an unique way of giving perspective to the practice session!

Balazs Szabo: Ferrari dominated the final practice session

After hitting the wall during the second free practice session, Sebastian Vettel came back strong for the third and final practice session for the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix.

Ferrari dominated the proceedings on Saturday afternoon in Singapore by setting the pace throughout the whole session. Sebastian Vettel finished three-tenths clear of his team-mate Kimi Räikkönen who was fastest in FP2.

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas used the soft tyres on which the Finn was particularly strong in the early part of the session. As both of them changed to the hypersoft, they failed to put the Ferrari’s lead in danger and ended the session in thrid and fourth.

Red Bull had been tipped for big things here, but it was an inconclusive session for the Milton Keynes team. Max Verstappen was complaining of technical problems throughout the whole session, first of transmission and then engine-related glitches.

The title of ‘best of the rest’ went to Romain Grosjean who was three-tenths clear of Force India’s Esteban Ocon. The midfield between eighth place and sixteenth place was relatively tight, albeit not in the same way as in Monza a fortnight ago. Of the teams, Williams was the slowest with both is drivers around four seconds adrift of Sebastian Vettel’s lap time of 1:38.054.

Vyssion: The Red Speed Demons Top the Charts

Despite scrubbing the wall on Friday, Sebastian Vettel was seemingly unphased by the accident. Saturday evening saw him dominate the grid by nearly half a second during the final practice at the Singapore Grand Prix Circuit. It was a Ferrari 1-2 as Mercedes failed to keep up with the red speed demons.

Despite scrubbing the wall on Friday, Sebastian Vettel was seemingly unphased by the accident. Saturday evening saw him dominate the grid by nearly half a second during the final practice at the Singapore Grand Prix Circuit. It was a Ferrari 1-2 as Mercedes failed to keep up with the red speed demons.

Ferrari managed to set the pace right from the outset, and despite Hamilton driving hard, he struggled to keep within five tenths of his closest championship rival. Bottas was able to set an almost equal time to the Brit, coming in 4th.

Red Bull had great things expected of them here, however, it was plagued by issues... Verstappen spent almost half of the session in the garage complaining about transmission and then engine issues which substantially affected his ability to get out there and set a decent lap time; whilst Ricciardo managed to lock in 5th position just ahead of his teammate.

Haas were sort of "best of the rest" from there on down the pack with Grojean finishing in 7th just ahead of two the two Force Indias with Alonso rounding out the top 10.

Surprisingly, the session was mostly a quiet one with no spins or contact with any more walls. The most "drama" came when there was an unsafe release of Ocon into the path of a Haas in the pit lane - something of which the stewards are investigating.

Singapore is the night race - the track illuminated by powerful spotlights is a beacon in the night to the city. We will see what the decreasing track temperatures and new confidence of the Ferrari's has in store for the championship leader tonight!!