LIVE: Singapore Grand Prix - FP1

40

Follow live coverage of the opening practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix from the Marina Bay Street Circuit with F1i.

LIVE: Singapore Grand Prix - FP1

With the European leg of the 2016 season now behind us, things could hardly be more different as we arrive in the spectacular city of Singapore where we'll be racing on the 5.065km (3.147-mile), 23-turn Marina Bay Street Circuit this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton is still in the lead of the world championship standings, but after being beset by engine penalties at Spa and then suffering a bad start at Monza, his lead over Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg is now down to just two points so it could hardly be closer between them with seven races remaining in 2016. Does this mean that the momentum has now swung in Rosberg's favour, or will Hamilton bounce back to stamp his authority on the title battle this weekend?

Red Bull and Ferrari will continue to battle it out for runners-up spot in the constructors championship, after Ferrari successfully used home advantage at Monza to cut the deficit between the teams to 11 points. Will Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen maintain their strong form again this weekend, or will it be the turn of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen to get the upper hand?

Vettel won the race last year with Ricciardo a close second after a strange misfire from Mercedes who had been looking unbeatable up to that point of the season. Could we see the same sort of upset again this year? Free Practice 1 will be our first opportunity to check out the teams' relative standings on this unique circuit.

While the session times will hardly seem to have changed for worldwide audiences, it's a very strange situation for the teams and drivers as everything is 'timeshifted' this weekend with all the events taking place long into the evening. FP1 will be getting underway just as the sun sets at 18:00 local time, which is 11am BST.

Naturally you can follow live coverage of FP1 as it happens via F1i's live commentary page, where you can also get involved by submitting your questions and comments.

Romain Grosjean column: Drivers have a certain shelf life

Chris Medland's 2016 Singapore Grand Prix preview

TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the Red Bull RB12

2017 F1 driver line-ups so far

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.