George ends a productive Friday in P3 as Formula One returns to Singapore.

Returning to Singapore for the first time in three years, George took to the track on the Hard Pirelli tyres.

As the tyres steadily got up to temperature, George improved on his initial 1.52.410 time to 1.49.606 before making early contact with the barrier at Turn 11.

Luckily, the Brit sustained no damage and, after a quick check-over by the team, George returned to the track to move into P5 on the timings with a 1.45.970.

A brief red flag as Lance Stroll made contact with the barrier halted all track running with 20 minutes on the clock.

As the track was deemed clear, George re-joined on the Medium tyres to set his best lap time of the day with a 1.44.066 to end the first practice in P5.

Under the night lights, George began FP2 on the Medium compound to quickly set a 1.44.661 and take him to the top of the standings.

George made a second run-off at Turn 11 but kept it out of the barrier before returning to the pits to switch onto the Softs for the remaining 25 minutes of the session.

Putting in his best time of the day, George delivered a 1.42.911 to end Friday’s running in P3.

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George Russell – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team Driver

On paper, it's been a promising day for us, but paper doesn't mean anything. Overall, today went okay, but there's definitely a lot of work to do for us. This circuit is very unique and conditions here are tricky. It's just so hot and you always feel a bit light-headed jumping out of the car. The track surface is very bumpy out there and I think to a degree everybody is struggling with that. We know that that's a weak point with our car plus the tires here are quite sensitive. I was surprised about the grip levels on the new track surface and I'm sure track improvements will continue to evolve during the weekend. I'm sure in qualifying there will be a big improvement from Q1 to Q3. If we manage to absolutely nail it tomorrow, there will be a huge amount of lap time we can find in qualifying and we all know how important qualifying performance is at this track. We feel optimistic and work hard overnight.