Singapore: McLaren's Lewis Hamilton laid down an early marker at the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday when he posted the fastest time in an incident-packed first free practice at the Marina Bay Circuit.
The session was initially delayed by 30 minutes to carry out last-minute repairs on the street circuit and then cut from 90 minutes to one hour as loose kerbing was removed from turns three and 14.
Once the cars got out on the track, Briton Hamilton, winner here in 2009, set the fastest time of one minute 48.599 seconds.
Defending world champion and runaway leader Sebastian Vettel, who can secure back-to-back Formula One titles on Sunday with five more races remaining, was 0.406 back as the pair lapped more than a second quicker than the rest of the field.
Vettel's Red Bull team mate Mark Webber lost his front wing after clipping the rear of Timo Glock's Virgin, before setting the third-fastest time of 1:50.066.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, twice a winner in Singapore, was fourth quickest in 1:50.596, with McLaren's Jenson Button clocking the fifth fastest time under the floodlights on a dry and balmy evening in the southeast Asian city-state.
Seconds after Webber's tangle with Glock midway through the session, the red flag was waved when the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen developed a small brake fire at turn 18 and was doused with foam to extinguish the flames in the runoff area.
Another five-minute delay came late in the session when a bolt worked its way loose from the kerbing on turn eight, forcing officials to carry out more repairs before the action resumed for the final three minutes of racing.
The second practice session is due to take place on schedule at 1330 GMT and run for the full 90 minutes.
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