Fernando Alonso ended Friday evening’s first practice session at a humid and muggy Marina Bay Street Circuit 0.122s ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, with Nico Rosberg a further 0.027s down, but few expect that the Ferrari will be ahead of the Silver Arrows when the grid forms on Sunday.

Hamilton and Rosberg traded fast times, with interventions from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, before Alonso moved ahead in a F14 T likely to have been running minimal fuel. The Spaniard’s best lap was 1m 49.056s compared to Hamilton’s 1m 49.178s and Rosberg’s 1m 49.205s.