Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 as Rosberg crashes

Max Verstappen led team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.049s as Red Bull set the pace and Nico Rosberg crashed in first practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.

On a circuit where Mercedes struggled in 2015, Red Bull - expected to challenge for victory this weekend - enjoyed a strong start as its two drivers were the only ones to dip below the 1m46s mark in the opening session. Verstappen edged out his team-mate despite Ricciardo being quicker in the opening two sectors, with the pair both using the ultrasoft tyre during FP1.

• AS IT HAPPENED: Singapore Grand Prix - FP1

The gap to Ferrari was over 0.4s as Sebastian Vettel set the third quickest time, again on the ultrasoft tyre. Mercedes also used the ultrasofts but much earlier in the session, with Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Rosberg setting their best times on soft tyres. The Mercedes pair were within 0.1s of each other in fourth and fifth respectively when Rosberg made his error to end his running early.

The German hit the wall at Turn 18 with 15 minutes remaining in the session, locking up both front tyres and burying the nose of his Mercedes in the Tecpro barrier. Rosberg was able to reverse out - minus his front wing - and limp back to the pits for checks but did not appear again.

A late lap on used ultrasofts saw Kimi Raikkonen end the session sixth fastest, albeit a second slower than Verstappen's fastest lap, while the Toro Rosso pair of Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat showed up well in seventh and eighth respectively. Kvyat was clearly pushing throughout the session, grazing the wall twice with his right rear tyre, while there was a comedy moment for Sainz as he failed to get out of his garage cleanly and became wedged against the pit wall as he tried to slowly avoid contact.

Felipe Massa was the highest placed supersoft runner in ninth place, over two seconds off the pace ,with Esteban Gutierrez rounding out the top ten. While Gutierrez was competitive, team-mate Romain Grosjean completed just two laps during the session before a lack of intake pressure confined him to the Haas garage.

Another driver to suffer from a problem was Jenson Button, who came to a stop approaching the final corner on his installation lap at the start of the session. With his car parked on the inside of the circuit, the stewards allowed marshals to push Button's car back to the pit lane under a Virtual Safety Car, allowing McLaren to retrieve the car and fix it in order for Button to return. The 2009 world champion finished the session 16th, five places behind team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Three drivers ran the Halo at the start of the session, with Hamilton, Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg testing the cockpit protection device. Both Hamilton and Hulkenberg did run the Halo for the full opening 40 minutes but the track had yet to go completely dark before the device was removed.

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