George Russell topped Singapore's lone practice session in Mercedes' older-spec package, but the headline gap to teammate Kimi Antonelli's upgraded car—1.3 seconds—means nothing. Antonelli ran mediums at the end while Russell bolted on softs, and traffic forced the rookie off-road on his best lap. On the hard-tyre runs that ate most of the hour, the two Mercs were split by just 0.056 seconds, Antonelli ahead. Charles Leclerc slotted second to Russell's soft-tyre benchmark, two-tenths back, with the McLarens of Norris and Piastri lurking third and fifth. Max Verstappen topped the medium runners in sixth. Cadillac's debut weekend didn't spark: Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas anchored the timing screen, more than three seconds off the pace. Nico Hulkenberg's Audi coughed up a gearbox on the main straight, triggering the session's only VSC. With just one practice before qualifying, teams head into Saturday flying blind.
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