George Russell fastest in only practice session ahead of Singapore Grand Prix

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]Russell[/a] won ‌last year's race in Singapore from pole but the ‌Briton is set to start at the ‌back of the grid on Sunday due to a power unit penalty following an engine failure five ‌laps from the finish in Malaysia.[/p][p]With ⁠the Marina Bay ‌Street Circuit hosting a sprint this year, drivers ​had just one practice session available - albeit in the daylight - to get to ​grips with the track ahead of sprint qualifying under the lights later on Friday.[/p][p]Russell clocked ⁠one minute and ​32.274 seconds at the dusty circuit on the streets of Singapore, nearly two-tenths of a second faster than Ferrari's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leclerc-charles/KlCOSRub/"]Charles Leclerc[/a] while reigning champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/norris-lando/WSVABbVF/"]‌Lando Norris[/a] was third-fastest.[/p][p]Championship leader [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Kimi Antonelli[/a], who leads Russell by 84 points, was only seventh-fastest behind Ferrari's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Lewis Hamilton[/a], McLaren's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piastri-oscar/MqKAIeUf/"]Oscar Piastri[/a] and Red Bull's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verstappen-max/UV3mgeXB/"]Max Verstappen[/a] - the fastest driver on medium tyres.[/p][embed guid="6ee985cb-e62c-4eae-b21b-fd31c29aa089" url="https://x.com/F1/status/2108492012290773348" social-type="twitter" /][p]Verstappen had initially set the fastest time earlier in the session but he was called back into the pit ‌garage, with team principal Laurent Mekies explaining ​his radio was not working.[/p][p][b]"That made everyone's ‌lives difficult. We had nothing at all and it is quite difficult to run these cars with no radio," [/b]Mekies said.[/p][p]Verstappen's team mate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hadjar-isack/8SAk38Ui/"]Isack Hadjar[/a], Alpine's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gasly-pierre/nqYFMBBf/"]Pierre Gasly[/a] and ⁠Racing Bulls' [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lawson-liam/nap8RjeO/"]Liam ⁠Lawson[/a] completed the ‌top 10.[/p]