FP3: Leclerc surprises rivals by going fastest

F1 Grand Prix, GP Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has bounced back from an anonymous Friday by topping the times in FP3 of the Singapore GP weekend. The Monegasque topped Lewis Hamilton and team mate Sebastian Vettel.

It's unclear if Ferrari turned up the engine, or ran very low fuel, but no doubt, rivals will hope so, as that was quite the lap by Leclerc, a stunning 1m 38.192s. He is the form man, and looks full of confidence in everything he does.

Lewis Hamilton won't be too unhappy either, although he may have thought Ferrari was not in contention this weekend. Second fastest just ahead of qualifying isn't bad at all. A spin on a hot lap however is something he should try to leave behind, and not repeat in qualifying of the race.

Vettel meanwhile didn't really put a foot wrong, but seeing his team mate run away with 6 tenths is unlikely to help boost the German's confidence. Bottas was fourth fastest, and close on the heels of Vettel, leaving both Red Bulls in 5th and 6th.

For Verstappen this is probably not going to be a worry, but Albon did leave the track repeatedly. He seems to be unable to find the right rythm, and might face an uphill battle in qualifying.

McLaren's Sainz and Norris were again close to one another on the timing sheet, taking 7th and 8th. Renault F1's duo completed the top 10, with Hulkenberg still ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, although this time around just by a whiff.

The session was less positive for Sergio Perez who caused a red flag by scraping the wall. As was was a fairly big hit, the Mexican quickly faces a rear wheel puncture. He was close to the pits, but debris on track required a short red flag situation around halfway.

Even worse off was Daniil Kvyat. The Russian pulled into the pits after just 3 laps with smoke billowing from the back of his STR14. The Toro Rosso driver ended the session without a timed lap as engineers were hastily working on his car after that incident.