Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen slipped by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and leads the defending world champion by a slim 0.011 second after the completion of the first two practice sessions for this weekend’s 2018 Singapore Grand Prix.
Raikkonen, who will be leaving Ferrari at the end of the season to join Sauber, set a time of 1:38.699 on the hyper-soft tire, while his teammate and main challenger to Hamilton for the 2018 world title – Sebastian Vettel – made contact with the barriers on the exit of Turn 22 during his only flying lap.
Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen had led the first practice session and were quick in the second practice session until both Ferrari and Mercedes arrived on the scene, with Verstappen finishing third quickest, but a distant 0.522 seconds behind Raikkonen while teammate Daniel Ricciardo was a further 0.088 seconds in arrears.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was only fifth fastest.
The 2018 Singapore Grand Prix is currently scheduled for a start time of 5:05am [Pacific Time] on Sunday, September 16, 2018.