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Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel threw down the gauntlet ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix with a hugely impressive series of laps to top the times in the opening day’s practice on Friday.
The German tyro, who has slipped 24 points behind teammate Mark Webber in a tight championship race, convincingly outpaced his title rivals under floodlights with a best lap of one minute and 46.660 seconds.
It lifted him 0.627 clear of Webber in second as the Red Bulls set themselves up for Saturday’s decisive qualifying, with a good position on the grid crucial on a street circuit where overtaking opportunities are limited.
Defending world champion Jenson Button of McLaren finished third with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who won the last race in Monza, fourth.
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Formula 1: Singapore Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
Formula 1: Mark Webber Fastest in First Practice at Singapore
Formula 1: Singapore Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Alonso looked on track to better Vettel but got it wrong at Turn 17 and was forced onto the escape road with 23 minutes left, leaving him to walk back to the pits.
Button’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest. Sydney Morning Herald
The top 10 was rounded out by Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Michael Schumacher, who was second in the morning.
There were a few scrapes with the wall, most notably by the Toro Rosso drivers, but the only major incidents involved Alonso and Adrian Sutil.
Sutil missed the apex of the first corner of the turn 10/11 complex and his Force India took off on the second kerb, crashing down to break his front left suspension. Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi were 17th and 18th in the Toro Rossos, on 1m 50.191s and 1m 50.896s, while Heikki Kovalainen gave Lotus a clear advantage among the new teams with 1m 51.878s. Timo Glock led Virgin team mate Lucas di Grassi (back in the car after Jerome d’Ambrosio’s morning run), with 1m 52.150s to 1m 53.431s.
Jarno Trulli was 22nd in the Lotus he took over from Fairuz Fauzy, lapping it in 1m 53.526s, then Bruno Senna led HRT team mate Christian Klien with 1m 54.725s to 1m 55.542s. Formula 1
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