Hello and welcome to ESPNF1's coverage of the first practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix. This race has quickly established itself as one of the crown jewels of Formula One, delivering a challenge for the drivers in a spectacular setting

Despite the teams and drivers staying on European time, you'll notice this practice session is still a bit later than usually seen in Europe. It's still light in Singapore, and with the race taking place in complete darkness at 20:00 local time on Sunday, the session needs to be as close to nightfall as possible. FP2 will take place in complete darkness at 21:30 local time

The drivers are greeted with this view down to turn one at this time of day:

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Before the power of the lights take over later on:

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Neither Force India nor Lotus are replacing their drivers in FP1 today. Force India wants both of its drivers to get as much track time as possible as it battles Sauber and Toro Rosso for sixth in the constructor's championship, while Lotus wants the race drivers to concentrate on the new aero updates it has brought. There is a switch at HRT though, as Narain Karthikeyan replaces Tonio Liuzzi for FP1 ahead of his race drive in India. Just to continue the visual feast, here he is getting reacquainted with his car yesterday:

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Obviously the big story this weekend revolves around Sebastian Vettel and the championship. Victory here will see him seal the title if Fernando Alonso is fourth or lower, and Jenson Button and Mark Webber are third or lower. Vettel maintains, however, that it is not something that will come in to his thoughts

So Vettel may not be thinking about the championship, but the rest of the grid appears to have already crowned him, as Alonso, Massa and Hamilton all showered him with praise yesterday

Paul has emailed in to offer his views this weekend. He's backing Mark Webber:

"Endurance is going to be the main battle, as Mark Webber said in his latest interview. Fitness is the key and being able to concentrate for such long race. So this weekend will be interesting to see who comes out top, age must play a factor, but experience also a great key. Best of luck Mark"

If you want to get in touch with us here as Paul has below, then you can do so either by clicking on the link at the top of the page, or by tweeting us @ESPNF1_live

It's dry but humid in Singapore at the moment. Before FP1 last year there was a thunderstorm that left the track wet; no such problems this year but the forecast for Saturday and Sunday predicts a number of thundery showers...

On the weather topic, Nizam emails in right on cue:

"Am looking at the Singapore circuit from my office window. It's bright and sunny now - but the weather has been unpredictably wet over the last few days, with thunderstorms happening at different parts of the day.

We have not had a wet race in Singapore - I wonder how the drivers will deal with the reflections from the artificial lighting. Am hoping for rain though - that will make the race more fun."

BREAKING: There will be a 30 minute delay to the start of FP1 because of track repairs on the Marina Bay circuit. There was an accident in an earlier support race and there is oil and petrol on the track, with a number of marshals working in the affected areas

There's also a number of kerbs being removed, as marshals are looking at loose sections at turns three and 14.

The end result of all this is that we will have a shortened session. The regulations state that there must be a two hour gap between sessions, and therefore this session will only run for one hour if the repairs are completed on time

For Narain Karthikeyan it's a blow as he will only get minimal running in FP1, but the track is also new to Paul di Resta, Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Perez, Jerome d'Ambrosio and Daniel Ricciardo, so they are missing out on track time too

The current timing screens show 1hr30m remaining in the session, so there's a chance teams won't lose running. It's all unofficial at present, but the wording from race control is "Start of P1 delayed", which suggests a full session is still planned

Paul asks: "Do you feel the DRS zone will have much of an effect this weekend?"

Yes Paul I expect it to really facilitate more overtaking. The zone is a long one between turns five and seven, and under braking for turn seven is the best overtaking opportunity on the circuit. The main difficulty will be if it is too bumpy off-line for the car trying to pass

Marshals are still working hard on the kerbs on track, while the FIA car drives between each point to have a look at the progress. The delay doesn't appear to be bothering Mark Webber too much as he relaxes in Red Bull hospitality with his parents

Right, race control has announced that cars can cross the white line on the exit of turns three and 14 having removed the kerbs on the outside of the track fully. The lines previously defined the circuit boundaries

There's still work going on though, which has now moved to the kerbs on the inside of turn seven. Herbie Blash and Charlie Whiting are still having a look, but now it looks like they have asked for the track to be cleared...

The track status is green, which signals that the work is now complete

Leigh emails in from Sydney to ask:

"In past years there have been considerable issues with the bumpy nature of the circuit, with DRS this year and its subsequent reduction in downforce and the approach to T7 end of the zone being narrow, has "Memorial" been reprofiled or modified? It strikes me that if it hasn't been considerasbly modified we are we likely to see cars coming in way too hot because of the aero reduction, KERS and the bumps and being pitched into the outside barrier, particularly if they are attempting an overtake."

There has been no notable changes to the track at turn seven, with the only changes announced by the FIA being a new kerb at turn two to prevent drivers cutting the corner. The bumps will make any moves difficult, but the DRS should allow drivers to get alongside ahead of the braking zone, and have full downforce under braking when the wing closes

Drivers are in their cars, so we should finally see some track action shortly

Derek asks "Will the 107% rule come into affect this weekend?"

It is always a ruling, Derek, but so far we've seen special dispensation from the FIA for cars that have not beaten the 107% time. HRT and Virgin would be most at risk but both have updates this weekend and will hope that the top teams on the prime tyre in Q1 will not trouble them

Charlie Whiting has just told reporters that he will now go to see the stewards to change the length of the session to one hour, and it's officially now an hour long session

The session is finally underway, and with it only being 60 minutes long we should see plenty of action. Alguersuari is first out on track as Singapore reverberates to the sound of V8 engines

Mike Gascoyne on Twitter: "P1 confirmed as only 60 mins long, tight program now"

Timo Glock locks up and has to spin his car round at turn seven. The team tells him over the radio that it's because his brakes are new

Massa has plenty of aero paint on his Ferrari, with both the front and the rear wing covered

Every car has left the pit lane to carry out an installation lap now

Alguersuari is the first man back out on to the track again, and has it to himself as Vettel returns to the pits

Alguersuari returns to the pits, but Rosberg is now out on track. The lights are on but not having the full effect as there is still a good amount of daylight

Schumacher on track too now, as Rosberg bounces across the kerbs at turn 10 and sparks fly from his front wing

Rosberg completes the first flying lap, a 1:57.351

Bruno Senna finds a novel way to deal with the kerbs at turn ten - he skips the chicane altogether

There is aero paint on the rear wing of the Renault too. A number of upgrades will be being tested in this session

Schumacher beats his team-mates time with a 1:55.827

It's very dirty out on track at the moment, with dust being kicked up between turns 13 and 14

Senna's first lap is a 1:59.340. Three and half seconds slower than Schumacher

The biggest risk for the drivers now is that the wall is track limit at turns 3 and 14, so the more they look for time the closer they can get to it

Glock has had his brakes changed after his earlier problem and is back out on track

Adrian Sutil skips the chicane at turn ten having gone in a bit too hot. He'll remember the danger of taking on the kerbs from last year:

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Massa goes quickest with a 1:52.043. Webber is second on a 1:52.648

Sutil goes third with a 1:53.748. So far Kobayashi, Trulli, Alonso, Hamilton and Button haven't left the pits to set a time

Vettel is now third quickest in 1:53.252

Contact. Silly contact. Webber was stuck behind Glock for a couple of laps and tried to pass him on the inside of the penultimate corner - which is not an overtaking opportunity - and clips the rear of the Virgin. The damage is a broken front wing for Webber and a puncture for Glock.

Another fire for Kovalainen! What does he have against Singapore? His front brakes are on fire, and once again he is working with the marshals, this time to wheel the car off the circuit

Kovalainen's car is out of the way now, and the session will restart at 19:02 local time

Glock's session is over. His set of tyres is "done for" as his race engineer says, so the team decide not to waste any more tyres. The blame for me rests with Webber for the incident - he tried to pass in a strange place when it was clear Glock was not moving over. Frustration appeared to get the better of him as he had been following very closely

The session is underway again. Trulli is first out following by di Resta

Ricciardo tells his team over the radio that he thinks his car is "a bit on the pointy side", but that he hasn't got up to speed with the track yet so doesn't want any changes. He's set the slowest of the times set so far

Akshay asks: "I am fan of Force India and Sutil & would like to see him next year too...would it hurt Hulkenburg career if he remove's one more year as test driver in Force India?"

In short, yes it would Akshay. Hulkenberg impressed towards the end of his debut season but needs to get in a race seat if he wants his career to progress further, as this year has seen it stall slightly. Hulkenberg will have taken the short term pain of a test role this year in the hope it translates in to a race seat for 2012

The lights have taken full effect on the circuit now, and Nico Rosberg complains that his visor is too dark - he's wearing a tinted rather than clear visor

Sutil up to third fastest on a 1:52.758

Button on a flying lap and setting the fastest first two sectors, but despite getting slightly blocked by a Sauber late on he goes fastest on a 1:50.952

Schumacher locks up in to turn 10 and skips the chicane

Vettel goes quickest in 1:50.082

For reference, the quickest lap of FP1 last year was a 1:54.589, set by Mark Webber in the wet

Vettel improves further to a 1:49.656

Anesh asks: "What's going on with Alonso? Why is he in the pits?"

Alonso was out on track on a flying lap when Ferrari called him in late because it "needed to check something on the telemetery side"

Alguersuari runs wide on to the kerbs, while a bit of bodywork falls off the rear of Trulli's car. The bumps and kerbs really work the cars hard around this track

Ferrari (InsideFerrari) on Twitter: "Finally everyhing went back to normal and both cars can run: they left the garage together"

Hamilton goes top with a 1:49.515, but Vettel soon beats it with a 1:49.005

Hamilton slides the car towards the wall at turn 14 where there is a lack of kerbs. It's very dirty on the outside of the track

Webber improves his best time to a 1:50.308.

Alonso goes fourth quickest, while Hamilton is on a much quicker lap...

And it's a 1:48.599 for Hamilton

Replays show Massa took too much kerb and lost the rear end a few moments ago, having to catch the car but running wide at the next corner and having to spin the car back round

There is a loose kerb at turn seven, and the session has been red flagged again. It was over that kerb that Massa ran wide just now

Seven minutes left in the session and the clock keeps going...that will probably be the end of the running in FP1

Marshals are on the case already, and appear to be looking at removing the offending section of kerbing

Job done. The piece of kerb has been taken away and the session will restart at 19:27 local time

Sutil is already out of his car and taking off his race suit, but some drivers may decide to go out and do one final lap.

There's a queue at the end of the pit lane, and Schumacher even pulled off to the side to try and jump the queue

Kobayashi was at the fron of the queue and is first man out. This is like a one-lap qualifying run: cross the line before the flag falls to complete one flying lap

The track is busy, with 15 cars out there. Of the top four teams only Hamilton and Rosberg have not taken to the circuit

Vettel backs up Button but both seem to have found some good space

The time is up, but no-one has finished the flying lap yet

The BBC says that McLaren had a tyre mix up which prevented Hamilton from going out on track again

Vettel backed off in the middle of his lap but then set the fastest final sector

A lot of drivers still pushing hard on the inlap after so much lost time, and Vettel runs wide after diving up the inside of Perez

So, at the end of that rather stop-start session, Hamilton is quickest on a 1:48.599; 0.406s quicker than Vettel, with Webber third. They're followed by Alonso, Button, Massa, Sutil and Schumacher. Join us again for the second session in two hours, which will hopefully start on time and see some more sustained running for the teams!