Singapore: Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton edged Max Verstappen off the top of the timesheets to go fastest on the opening day of practice for the Singapore Grand Prix yesterday. The Briton, third in the evening on a set of the less grippy hard compound tyres, lapped the Marina Bay track in one minute, 38.773 seconds at night under the floodlights.

That was good enough to dislodge Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who topped the opening session, by 0.186 seconds. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, a four-time winner in Singapore and hunting for his first win since last year's race in Belgium, was third.