2. Lewis Hamilton / 1:45.752 /McLaren-Mercedes

3. Felipe Massa / 1:45.793 / Ferrari

4. Heikki Kovalainen / 1:45.797 / McLaren-Mercedes
5. Nico Rosberg / 1:46.164 / Williams

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso stunned Lewis Hamilton to grab the fastest time in opening practice for the Singapore Grand Prix Friday, driving supremely under lights for the first time. The British world championship leader was the pace-setter in the first session around the bumpy Marina Bay street circuit and looked to have sewn up the second before Alonso pipped him on the last lap. The Spaniard hurled his Renault around the track in 1:45.654, 0.098 ahead of the McLaren driver. It was marginally slower than the 1:45.518 Hamilton drove in the first session.

Some Beautiful Pictures :

Track Information
~Race Date / Time = Sunday, 28 September 2008 at 8 pm
~Number of Laps = 61
~Circuit Length = 5.067 km
~Race Distance = 309.087 km
~Number of Turns = 23
~Race Direction = Anti-clockwise
~Fastest Corner = Esplanade Drive towards Raffles Avenue - Cars can hit top speeds of 300kmh
~Maximum Speed = In excess of 300 km/h along Raffles Boulevard• Between 250 and 300 km/h on Pit Straight, St Andrew’s Road and Esplanade Drive
~Narrowest Part of Circuit = Anderson Bridge just before Turn 13.Only the left side - which is just 8-metre wide - of the bridge will be used.

Inside F1
What makes a Grand Prix different from other motor races?
A Grand Prix, in motor racing, signifies a premier motor race in any country. In most places in the World it is a registered trade mark and can only be used for a FORMULA 1™ event organised by the FIA.

What do the words FORMULA 1™ signify?
The single seat FORMULA 1™ racing car is quite simply the fastest, most technically sophisticated car designed to complete a lap of a race circuit. More than that, it is designed to complete fifty or more laps, which make up the 300km distance that makes up a FORMULA 1™ Grand Prix.

For how many years have Grand Prix races been taking place?
The very first race to use the title was the French Grand Prix of 1906. Many races in the 1920s, 30s and 40s used the Grand Prix title too, however the first official World Championship began in 1950, won by the Italian, Nino Farina on an Alfa Romeo

What is the difference between a street circuit and other tracks?
Street circuits are by their nature, tracks which incorporate closed public roads, normally in a city location, in their design, as opposed to racing in a purpose-made, permanent facility. There will be three “pure” street circuits on the 2008 F1 calendar, Monaco, Valencia in Spain and Singapore. There are also two “fusion” circuits which utilise city highways too. Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at Montreal, Canada both use highways running through parks to make up the majority of their tracks.

What do all the flag signals mean?
While electronic communications and warning lights are playing an increasing role in warning drivers of situations on the track, coloured flags waved by marshals give a clear and immediate warning of potential danger. The most commonly seen flags are the yellow flag, waved to warn drivers of an imminent hazard; the blue flag, which warns a driver of a faster car approaching from behind and a red and yellow striped flag, which warns of oil, fluid or debris on the track. The two flags no driver want to see are the black flag, ordering a specific driver to the pits or the red flag, stopping the race immediately.

What is Parc Ferme?

Parc Ferme is an enclosed, secure area in the paddock where the cars are weighed and any other checks deemed necessary by race officials are made. Teams must physically leave their cars in Parc Ferme from after qualifying on Saturday until 0830 on Sunday morning, but the cars are actually deemed to be under Parc Ferme conditions from the time they first exit the pits during qualifying until the start of the formation lap immediately prior to the race. Between those times the team personnel may only carry out strictly-specified routine maintenance, which can only be performed under the watchful eye of the FIA Technical Delegate and the race scrutinisers.

How Big a Role do Aerodynamics Play?
While a FORMULA 1™ car’s acceleration is impressive, its cornering capability is even more so. One of the biggest reasons for this is the use of aerodynamics, to force the cars onto the track and generate extra grip from the tyres. Although the design parameters are closely controlled by the FIA Regulations, the FORMULA 1™ team engineers each year spend hundreds of hours in wind tunnels designing bodywork components to increase this “downforce”. It has been calculated that a current F1 car is capable of developing 3.5 g lateral cornering force (three and a half times its own weight) thanks to aerodynamic downforce. That means that, theoretically, at high speeds they could drive upside down on a ceiling!

How Fast is a FORMULA 1™ Car?
In terms of straight line performance a current FORMULA 1™ car will accelerate approximately five times faster and have a top speed double that of a typical family sedan. However that is only half the story, as the immense cornering speed and braking performance is about five times that of the average road car. A FORMULA 1™ car will accelerate to 200km/h and back to a standstill again, in the same time a sedan takes to accelerate to 80 km/h.