Kimi Raikkonen sets Singapore pace as Sebastian Vettel hits the wall

Ferrari on top at Marina Bay Circuit although Lewis Hamilton shows good pace in his Mercedes to be second quickest

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in Singapore practice. Reuters

Kimi Raikkonen may be leaving Ferrari at the end of season but the Finn showed he still has the pace to be a force at the front as he was fastest in practice for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday.

The 2007 world champion's lap of 1 minute, 38.699 seconds was 0.011 secs quicker than the best time of championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton and his Mercedes-GP team had been expected to struggle at the Marina Bay Circuit but he showed good pace in the evening session.

Raikkonen's Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, who is 30 points adrift of Hamilton, was only ninth after he made contact with the wall and returned to the pits on what would have been his fastest lap of the session.

The four-time world champion did not return to the track after the incident and lost out on the chance to work on setting up his car for the rest of the weekend as mechanics worked on his chassis.

The Red Bull Racing cars of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were third and fourth, with Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas was fifth.

Carlos Sainz's Renault was best of the rest in his Renault in sixth, ahead of Romain Grosjean's Haas and the McLaren of Fernando Alonso.

Final practice is on Saturday at 2pm UAE time, with qualifying beginning at 5pm.

The 61-lap race is scheduled to begin at 4.10pm on Sunday.

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