The opening practice session in Singapore got underway in hot conditions, with the track temperature hitting 36°C. Many drivers, including Charles Leclerc, tried out special cooling vests to help with the heat.

Max Verstappen set the early pace, but the big drama came from Alex Albon, whose Williams caught fire in the pits. First his rear right brake went up in flames, and then the rear left too. Mechanics rushed to put the fire out, spinning the wheels by hand to cool the brakes, while Albon climbed out rubbing his eyes. Williams later confirmed it was a rear brake hardware issue, ruling him out of the rest of FP1.

On track, the times were changing quickly. Lewis Hamilton briefly went fastest before Carlos Sainz took over, only to be beaten by Oscar Piastri. Lando Norris then set the quickest lap on hard tyres, just ahead of Verstappen, while Fernando Alonso was the best of those running on mediums. No one had tried the softs yet, so the order was still wide open.

When the soft tyres came out, Charles Leclerc jumped to the top of the timesheets, edging Verstappen. Piastri clipped the wall in a small mistake, while Hamilton complained over the radio about Leclerc’s positioning in Turn 1.

In the final minutes, Alonso put in a flying lap to go quickest overall with a 1:31.116, finishing the session ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton put his Ferrari in fourth, whileOscar Piastri was fifth for McLaren, only a fraction ahead of his teammate Lando Norris in sixth. Isack Hadjar impressed with seventh for Racing Bulls, finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz, who placed eighth in the Williams. Yuki Tsunoda managed ninth for Red Bull, and rounding out the top ten was Esteban Ocon in the Haas.