Red Bull Racing continued to dominate preparations for the Singapore GP as Sebastian Vettel finished the weekend’s final practice session at the top of the timesheet.

The championship leader didn’t have it all his own way, however, as the commanding one-second gap on single lap pace he enjoyed yesterday was narrowed to just two tenths as Romain Grosjean mounted a challenge for Lotus. Mercedes too closed in, with Nico Rosberg finishing third, half a second down on Vettel’s time. Mark Webber was fourth in the second Red Bull.

Red Bull Racing sent a warning to their rivals in the second free practice session at the Singapore Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel topping the timesheet a full second ahead of his nearest non-Red Bull rival, third-placed Nico Rosberg. Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber was second.

A busy session started with tyre comparison work as the teams began on the medium tyre and then switched to short runs on the option supersoft. It was then that Vettel roared to the head of the order, recording a lap of 1:44.249 on his first run.

A straightforward opening practice session at Singapore’s Marina Bay circuit ended with Lewis Hamilton at the top of the timesheet, ahead of the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and third-placed Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton’s best time of 1:47.055 came with two thirds of the session gone and, with little or no improvements coming from the bulk of the front runners in the final half an hour, he finished comfortably ahead of Webber, nearly four tenths back, and eight tenths clear of championship leader Vettel. Nico Rosberg was fourth in the second Mercedes.

The North American round of the FIA WEC moves from Sebring to the newest circuit on the Formula One calendar, the ultra modern Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Qualifying Q1 Results