Singapore, 24 September

Fernando Alonso ended the first night of practice for the fifteenth round of the World Championship in fourth place, with his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate Felipe Massa seventh. The three hours of track time were complicated for everyone by the fact that for the first time in this event’s short three year history, the cars tackled the first 90 minutes of free practice on a damp track with puddles and slippery kerbs making it treacherous, especially given that as usual on a street track, run-off areas are in short supply.

Even if this is Formula 1’s third visit to Singapore, the first time the cars go out on track under the floodlights is still a breathtaking spectacle, as the colours on the cars and in the garages look so much brighter in the artificial light than in the more normal sunshine. However, night time in Singapore does not see a significant drop in temperature, nor in the humidity levels, therefore for the drivers, but especially for the mechanics working in the garage, where the heat from the cars’ engine and brakes add to the ambient temperature, working conditions are very tough. Indeed the Prancing Horse mechanics had a very busy night time, as the team evaluated various aero options, including a comparison running the car with and without the blown rear wing. Fernando’s second session did not go the full ninety minutes, because after overshooting a corner and making use of the escape road, his F10 suffered a failure of an experimental component in the gearbox, but as the Spaniard himself pointed out, Fridays are all about testing new ideas and these things can happen.

At the end of the second session, the Red Bull Racing duo topped the time sheet, with Sebastian Vettel first, the only driver to dip under the 1m 47 second barrier, fastest, ahead of Mark Webber. Jenson Button was third for McLaren, with his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in fifth place behind Fernando and ahead of Rubens Barrichello, sixth for Williams.