Lewis Hamilton’s troubled build-up to the Singapore Grand Prix showed few signs of abating on Saturday after an error in final practice handed the initiative to his sole championship rival Nico Rosberg.
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Hamilton was two-tenths up on Rosberg’s fastest time in the first sector on his first flying lap on ultra-softs, but locked up the left-front wheel and had to release the brakes and take to the escape road.
Hamilton, who was forced out of practice on Friday with a hydraulic issue, locked up his tyres at turn seven and scuppered his only qualifying-style run.
Much of the pre-race hype on Formula One’s first race since the close of the European leg of the season in Italy had centred around whether Mercedes would be able to bounce back from their disastrous showing here 12 months ago.
Ferrari are also likely to have their say, with Kimi Raikkonen (1:44.860) and Sebastian Vettel (1:45.104) third and fifth fastest, sandwiching Verstappen’s Red Bull colleague Daniel Ricciardo (1:44.903) in the classification.
The German finished ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was involved in a moment when a lizard crossed the circuit as he drove by.
The street circuit has seen its fair share of track intruders over the years, including a wandering pedestrian in 2015, but this was possibly an even rarer occurrence.
Another unusual obstacle then presented itself, as Verstappen narrowly avoided colliding with a large lizard as it made its way across the track. “I am not joking”.
2016 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. Next were Nico Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat, Hamilton and Carlos Sainz, with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas completing the top 10.
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Rosberg posted a best time of 1:44.352 on new ultrasofts to go quickest, but his time was still slower than yesterday’s best during FP2.
