F1: Vettel Shows Muscle In First Singapore Round

Formula 1

F1: Vettel Shows Muscle In First Singapore Round

Sebastian Vettel led P1 Friday at Marina Bay Street Circuit...

Jared Turner | Posted September 21, 2012 Marina Bay (SGP)

Sebastian Vettel turned the quickest lap in Singapore P1. (Photo: Getty Images)

His hopes of a third consecutive World Championship seemingly on life support, Sebastian Vettel needs to quickly get a move on if he hopes to chase down leader Fernando Alonso.

Friday's opening practice at Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore was a good start toward that end.

Driving on the partially wet 5.073-kilometer course, Vettel showed the way in the 90-minute session which began under fading daylight and ended at night.

Vettel, whose lone win of 2012 came early, at Bahrain, set the pace with a lap of 1:50:566 in his Red Bull RB8.

Lewis Hamilton, fresh off a win last weekend in Italy, clocked in a close second with a lap of 1:50:615 in his McLaren.

Hamilton's McLaren teammate, Jenson Button, was third, followed by the Ferrari of Alonso and the Williams of second-year F1 driver Pastor Maldonado.

Mark Webber, Nico Hulkenberg, Paul Di Resta, Daniel Riccardo and Sergio Perez completed the top 10 in a session bereft of any major incidents.

Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix is the 14th of 20 events on the 2012 Formula One calendar, which concludes in late November with the Brazilian GP.

Coming into the weekend, Alonso leads the drivers' standings by 37 points over Hamilton, 38 over Kimi Raikkonen and 39 over Vettel. Webber (-47) completes the top five.

Alonso and Hamilton both have a season-high three victories, while Webber and Button, each with two victories, are the season's other repeat winners.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.