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Marina Bay Street Circuit

3-5 October will see the grand prix starting at 1pm BST on race day.

Real-time commentary streamed on digital platforms and BBC Sport.

Opening Round Overview

The team's two-time champion was fastest beating Monegasque driver and reigning champion during first practice for the street circuit event.

McLaren's drivers Australian rookie and Lando Norris concluded the run in P5 and P6.

The young Australian was over two tenths quicker than the Briton.

Alonso was a slim margin leading of Leclerc and over a quarter of a second clear than the Red Bull star.

The Italian squad's Lewis Hamilton was just outside the top three.

Weekend Outlook

Unlikely that the Silverstone-based team will be front-runners for the top spot.

That said, the team are optimistic of a improved performance on a low-speed track that is better matched to their car, which runs more competitively when plenty of downforce are needed.

Veteran racer Fernando is also famous as a street circuit master, and often shines on the Singapore circuit.

Yet he was probably operating with less fuel or a higher engine mode than his rivals, or both, to post the fastest lap.

Practice Conditions

Fellow driver Lance Stroll was 1.918secs slower in the lower order.

Stroll had issues with his seat early in the session and was also testing new components.

Opening practice in Singapore is not representative of conditions under lights as it is run in daylight in late afternoon, while grid-deciding session and the grand prix are staged after dark.

Title Battle

Piastri has an advantage over his teammate by a quarter-century with the final stretch ahead heading into the event in Singapore.

McLaren are in position to wrap up the constructors' championship on race day.

Sole scenario they can not tie it up in Singapore is if the Silver Arrows outscore them by over thirty or Ferrari do so by a similar margin.

Rival Teams

Red Bull are optimistic of a strong result after recent successes in Italy and Azerbaijan preceding this Grand Prix.

They were relieved when precipitation falling before the session cleared by the moment the cars took to the track on a circuit that had remained dry.

Motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said ahead of practice that they needed a uninterrupted running to begin properly on optimizing their chassis settings for the Grand Prix.