Alonso Leads Opening Practice at Singapore
F1 Singapore
This weekend will see the race kicking off at 13:00 BST on Sunday.
Real-time commentary streamed on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sport.
FP1 Results Overview
The team's two-time champion set the pace beating Monegasque driver and Red Bull's Max Verstappen during the opening session for the Marina Bay race.
McLaren's title rivals Australian rookie and Lando Norris wrapped up the practice in mid-table positions.
The young Australian was a notable margin faster than his teammate.
The experienced Spaniard was 0.150secs ahead of Leclerc and a clear gap quicker than the Red Bull star.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was P4.
Car Performance
Few anticipate that the Silverstone-based team will be contenders for pole position.
However, the squad are optimistic of a improved performance on a low-speed track that is more suited to their vehicle, which runs more competitively when high levels of aerodynamic grip are required.
Double world title winner Fernando is also famous as a Singapore specialist, and typically performs well on the Singapore circuit.
Yet he was likely using less fuel or a more aggressive setting than his rivals, or a combination, to achieve that pace.
Team Updates
His team-mate Lance Stroll was a significant margin off the pace in the lower order.
The Canadian had difficulties with his cockpit early in the session and was also testing experimental parts.
Opening practice in Singapore is not representative of race pace for qualifying and race as it is run in afternoon sun in late afternoon, while the shootout and the race are staged after dark.
Title Battle
The McLaren driver has an advantage over his teammate by a quarter-century with seven races to go heading into the event in Singapore.
The Woking-based team are set to clinch the manufacturers' crown on the weekend.
Single possibility they can not tie it up in this race is if Mercedes surpass them by over thirty or Ferrari achieve that by thirty-five.
Competitor Outlook
Red Bull are hopeful of a good performance after recent successes in Italy and Azerbaijan preceding this Grand Prix.
They were relieved when precipitation coming down prior to running stopped by the moment the machines emerged on a circuit that had remained dry.
Senior figure the Austrian said prior to running that they required a dry hour to make a comprehensive start on optimizing their car configuration for the Grand Prix.
