Alonso Tops Singapore FP; Albon Suffers Brake Fire

Fernando Alonso topped opening practice for the Singapore Grand Prix with a 1:31.116 lap, edging Charles Leclerc by 0.150 seconds and Max Verstappen by roughly 0.276. Lewis Hamilton was fourth while McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ran fifth and sixth, with Piastri complaining of understeer after a difficult weekend in Azerbaijan. The session ended early for Williams' Alex Albon when a rear brake failure sparked a fire, preventing him from completing a competitive lap; Williams expect him to run in FP2. Mercedes had a subdued session with George Russell 11th as he recovers from a virus, and several teams did not run the soft tyres, making FP1 times unrepresentative of the night-time race weekend. Alonso and Aston Martin have struggled this season — Alonso has 30 points and the team sit seventh in the constructors.