The first day of running at Marina Bay was anything but smooth. With offset tyre strategies, disrupted run plans, and a flurry of red flags, the timing screens told only half the story. In FP1, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli ran Hard and Medium compounds while most of the grid went Soft, leaving them P11 and P14 respectively. But FP2 unraveled fast—George clipped the Turn 16 barrier early, ending his session after just six laps. Kimi was on a flying Soft tyre lap that looked set to challenge the top times… until another red flag shut it down.
With limited clean laps, the team pivoted to long-run data gathering, leaving Kimi P18 and George P20 on the final sheets—positions that don’t reflect their true pace.
Meanwhile, Mercedes Junior Doriane Pin came heartbreakingly close to pole in F1 Academy qualifying, missing out by just 0.042s to title rival Maya Weug. She’ll start P7 in the reverse grid race and P2 in the feature, with her sights firmly set on victory.
George Russell
That was an interrupted first day of running here in Singapore. FP1 was challenging as we struggled to get the tyres switched on and get a handle on the balance. That improved for FP2, but my session ended in the wall with only a handful of laps completed. It was a weird accident and I’m not entirely sure what happened. I braked earlier than I had on previous laps but lost the rear; thankfully the car went into the barrier nose in, so it didn’t do too much damage. It was annoying to lose the rest of the session so apologies to the team.
Despite not getting our full program completed, the pace we saw seemed decent. We didn’t put a lap time on the board but when we put all our sectors together, it felt good. It’s not been our best Friday but in Singapore things can change quickly and I’m looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow.
Kimi Antonelli
The final result on the timing screen doesn’t reflect how today went for us or what we could have achieved. In FP2 I had to abort my one attempt on the Soft compound as the red flag came out. I was into the final sector and was looking strong with a lap that would have put us near the top of the times at that point. We can take encouragement from that therefore and hopefully carry that pace into the rest of the weekend.
I’ve felt good in the car today. We’ve still got things we can improve but obviously, with it being my first time racing here, there is a lot of room for improvement with my driving too. If we can take a step forward with both the car and my driving, then I think we can be in with a chance of fighting for a good grid position tomorrow. It’s an enjoyable track, I felt at ease straight away, and I am looking forward to tomorrow and Sunday.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
Singapore, with its tricky street circuit layout and the hot and humid conditions, is always a challenge. The first day of running this weekend proved no different. As usual, FP1 saw the drivers getting to grips with the balance of the car whilst the track rubbered in. Whilst this session, along with FP3, is usually unrepresentative of the conditions we face in qualifying and the race, cloud cover and a relatively cool ambient temperature made it more relevant than normal. We were struggling to get the front tyres to come in and didn’t really make a lot of progress on that issue during the session but were able to make some more substantial changes ahead of FP2. That seemed to put the car in a better place.
Unfortunately, FP2 was a largely disrupted session. George only managed six laps before his day was ended after a snap into turn 16 put him in the barrier. Kimi meanwhile was set to post a strong soft tyre lap before he had to back off for a yellow in the penultimate corner that eventually turned into a second red flag. We opted to focus on the long run to close the hour, in contrast with the rest of the grid. Whilst that has left us near the bottom of the time sheets, it has allowed us to have a proper look at the long run balance and temperatures.
Doriane Pin, Mercedes Junior – F1 Academy
That was a very tight qualifying session. To be just 0.042s off pole position is obviously frustrating! We can take the positives though that our pace has looked strong and that we are very much in the game for the rest of the weekend. The major points are scored tomorrow, and Sunday and we will be looking to maximize the potential from both races.
Starting P7 in the reverse grid race, we will be aiming to gain as many positions as we can and then P2 for the feature race, I will be focused on getting the win. Let’s see what we can do.
Stay tuned—Singapore’s street circuit always delivers surprises, and with qualifying and race day ahead, the drama is just getting started.