Hello and welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of first free practice for the Singapore Grand Prix. Formula One's most spectacular race venue is preparing itself for the sound of V8s to bring in the night.

It's currently wet in Singapore after a torrential downpour about two hours before the session was due to begin. The humidity means the circuit is drying quickly - helped by a GP2 practice session - and we should still get some dry running during this session even if slicks aren't suitable from the very start

Now, aside from the on-track action there's still plenty to talk about in terms of the driver market this weekend, with Sergio Perez having allegedly been approached by McLaren (and then denied any contact) since the Italian GP. Nico Rosberg wants Michael Schumacher to stay at Mercedes and Jenson Button is enjoying all the speculation about his team-mate's identity for 2013...

...so do you have any thoughts on who should drive where next season? If so, you can get in touch in one of two ways. Either email us using the link above or tweet us @ESPNF1

There was quite an interesting sight at the paddock gates this morning as a number of team members queued up outside waiting for 3pm local time in order to not break the curfew. Teams have a number of upgrades this weekend so they'll have plenty of work to do today

Mihkel asks: "Kovalainen, Senna, Bottas, Massa - any news about them?"

Unfortunately there is no news about any drivers so far! Nothing has been confirmed for next season since Mark Webber signed a new Red Bull deal, but reading between the lines recent comments from Toto Wolff suggest Bottas will replace Senna next season.

Nasser says: "Hamilton will go to Mercedes. The money they will offer him will be good."

If reports are to be believed, Mercedes has offered Hamilton £20m per year over a three-year period, with the added flexibility of being able to do many of his own personal endorsement deals too

Ronald is interested in the weather for Sunday: "What are the chances it will rain on race day? Who do you think will run away with the win if it rains on race day?"

The chances of rain are fairly low; being a tropical location means the clouds tend to build up in the day and a heavy downpour is possible late in the afternoon but with the race starting at 8pm local time it doesn't affect the race - in four grands prix so far in Singapore we've yet to have a proper wet session. It's too tough to call who would be strong as the floodlights in the spray could cause some visibility issues, but Alonso has looked very good in wet races so far this year (as he has in all races!)

The track surface is still damp in many places with a few puddles, but there are sections drying out and the air temperature is 29C so it should continue to dry quickly

Just the one driver change for this session - Ma Qing Hua is in the HRT in place of Narain Karthikeyan

The session is under way and intermediate tyres are the order of the day for the installation laps

Speaking of Ma Qing Hua, it's a big ask for him to take part in this session - the track will be low on grip at this stage of the weekend and the walls are very close to punish any mistakes. The likes of Force India and Williams - usually running third drivers - are giving their race drivers as much track time as possible

A big update we're looking out for is the Mercedes exhausts. It is running the Coanda-style exhausts used by the likes of McLaren and Sauber. Coanda-style means the gases are released pointing upwards as per the regulations but to an area where they will attach to the surface area of the floor to produce downforce. Ross Brawn hopes it will give performance and help with rear tyre life

And the two Mercedes cars are out on track together right now, with Schumacher coming very close to the rear of Rosberg exiting turn 14

De la Rosa's HRT has a lot of flo-viz all over it; HRT also has a new floor that it is testing today as part of its biggest upgrade since Barcelona

A number of new helmets for this race too. I've spotted a special design for Hamilton and another for - yes, you've guessed it - Vettel. That's his 51st design.

Perez pits in the Sauber and the track is quiet once again

Richard in Hong Kong says: "Hamilton should drop the ear-rings and lighten his racing weight. Then concentrate on racing cars and not being 'Glam'. He has gifted talent but in is the wrong game - he is a driver, not an entertainer..."

Rodger says: "Hamilton would be insane to go to Mercedes. Schumacher and Rosberg are both very skilled drivers, but the reliability and pace of the Merc just hasn't been there. If Hamilton wants some freedom, he can switch teams. If he wants to win, though, he'd better stay put."

Kartik asks: "What about Redbull situation this track suits the Redbull cars very much. Do they bringing any updates to this track to get the Performance back??"

There are some floor and rear wing updates on the Red Bull this weekend, but as you say this circuit should suit Red Bull much more and it should be strong here

Pic, Glock and de la Rosa are out on track, still on intermediate tyres but the track is drying very quickly

Oh dear, the radar has just given us a worrying message: "Serious risk of thundery showers before the end of FP1"

Liam comments on the Mercedes driver situation:

"Schumacher's situation is particularly puzzling to me. I can't really understand why he would retire (again) at the end of this season; he's performing really well now, given the car he's got, and well enough to know that in a good car, he can still challenge for wins. He's soundly outperformed Nico in many of the races the car has let him finish, and mesmerized in wet qualifying. While surely he's resigned himself to never getting championship number eight, I just can't imagine him wanting to go back into retirement without at least a win, but then again, that Mercedes package hasn't moved as fast as (anyone) expected. If I could make miracles, were Massa to lose his seat, what a glorious number two he could be for Alonso for a season or two."

The first lap time is on the board, and it's a 2:24.476 from Glock. Expect that to be lowered considerably

Tony emails in about Red Bull's recent treatment:

"Hi, isn't strange how all concerned seem to be down on Vettel this year, penalizing him at every opportunity, how they gave him a drive through last race god only knows, he only did the same thing as Alonso did to him the previous year, but nothing said that time when Vettel ended up on the grass. Also when he was dropped from 2nd to 8th was it that was another fiasco, he was pushed on to the grass and though he had no grip there they said he had done wrong, I think Seb must be getting a bit fed up with all this"

The thing to remember about Vettel v Alonso is that the rule has since changed about leaving a space for a driver since the 2011 incident, and Alonso did (just) leave the width of a car but Vettel went on to the grass anyway. That wasn't the case this year, so I believe the penalty was fair. If Alonso hadn't taken to the grass (or lost control on it) the accident would have been huge at that speed

Rain is on its way according to all the teams, and turn three remains wet so we're still on intermediate tyres. The track surface also has a lot of leafs on it, so it's hardly full of grip right now

Siddhesh asks: "I know its hard to pinpoint a single update, but do you think the new exhausts Mercedes are running this weekend will help them find that extra bit of race pace to challenge the likes of Mclaren/Redbull/Ferrari/Lotus?"

Firstly, thanks for highlighting how tough it is to focus on one update! The teams will run a number of new parts, some of which may be unseen to us or make very little difference on their own, so you're very much right. Having said that, Mercedes seems confident about the new exhausts and the car was quick earlier this year so it could well be the team making the biggest gain this weekend. If it's enough to challenge remains to be seen

Hamilton is out on soft tyres, which get wet in turn three but are soon dry

John emails in from New York to say: "I would love to see Perez go to Ferrari. Management feels he is too young. Ricardo Rodriguez drove for the Prancing Horse when he was 20!"

He also adds: "I believe Lewis has worn out his welcome with Ron Dennis. He will take the 20M !!"

Thanks for joining us John, it's not ideal times to be following in Australia and Asia today but it's even worse in the States!

Vergne has gone quickest with a 2:04.866. DRS is enabled as the track is deemed safe enough for it

Hamilton's little test on soft tyres ended very quickly and he pits. Grosjean is going fast on intermediates but runs wide at turn 14

Grosjean goes second quickest on a 2:05.130

Johan asks: "Referring to Alonso's comments that any replacement to Massa must have a stronger track record than Massa. Who could that be? Isn't the most likely scenario that Massa will stay at Ferrari in 2013?"

That seems to be what he's saying, Johan, but I can't say I agree with his comments because Massa didn't have the results he has now before he came to Ferrari...

The radar now says "No rain for 30 minutes, but serious risk of thundery showers before the end of FP1"

Marius asks: "If the practise session gets red flagged because of extreme weather conditions or any other reason do the usage of tyres rule still apply?"

Yes they do, as the teams can't use more tyres than usual in that scenario.

Hulkenberg's gone quickest with a 2:02.852 as Alonso starts a lap

Paul in Sydney points out a new helmet design for Mark Webber as well this weekend. Alonso's is slightly different too

Alonso sets the fastest first and second sectors but still doesn't look like breaking the two minute barrier

And a 2:01.573 from Alonso puts him fastest

Grosjean gets turn 10 a bit wrong and jumps over the kerbs in the final part of the three-kerbed corner

Kobayashi is out on slick tyres - a set of softs on the Sauber - and he's gone quickest with a 2:01.030

The darkness is closing in quickly and the lights are taking over fully now. Kobayashi looks set to break the two minute barrier...

And Kobayashi goes quickest with a 1:58.550

Bjorn says: "Why is everyone assuming Schumacher would quit if leaving Mercedes? McLaren would be the place to go if he wants a title more before retiring permanently. It's also a historical team that he might want to 'tick off'…"

The problem is, Schumacher is being groomed as a Mercedes ambassador and the last thing it would want is for him to be associated with a different team after Mercedes itself

Speaking of Mercedes, Yasir says: "Hope Mercedes new upgrades can actually give the drivers a more reliable car."

Kobayashi sets the fastest first sector, while Hamilton, Schumacher, Webber and Rosberg also come out on track

Shatheesh says: "I would love to see Michael and Lewis battle at Mercedes + Alonso and Vettel to battle at Ferrari for a season. (Hamilton and Alonso already proved equal at McLaren back already!)"

Rocky in Johannesburg asks: "On which compound did Alonso post his best time?"

He was on the intermediates

Kobayashi has now done 11 laps and his latest features all three fastest sectors as he does a 1:55.651

Rhemy asks on Twitter: "@ESPNF1 didn't Shumi say he will retire at Ferrari? so if he keeps his word. next year he can replace Massa and retire 2013"

Again, the problem is that it would undo all the good work from Mercedes to get the Schumacher and Mercedes association strong compared to Schumacher and Ferrari

Vettel's new helmet features LED lights on the top which are twinkling like stars in the night sky

Rosberg has gone second with a 1:54.824 - 0.8s behind Kobayashi

Button on soft tyres and we've got a nice helmet camera on each of the McLaren drivers' helmets. It's looking nice and dark now

Schumacher goes third - 1.3s slower than Kobayashi. Massa is the only man yet to go out after his installation lap

Cesar says: "I believe Alonso, being probably the best driver on the grid, prefers the comfort of a teammate without any risk of matching him. The best solution for him is to support Massa staying, as it is well proven that Massa is a driver not capable of ever matching Alonso. Contrary to Perez."

Rosberg does the fastest first sector, and the fastest second sector...

Button goes fourth - 1.4s slower than Kobayashi

Rosberg goes quickest with a 1:53.416

Raikkonen improves but is 4.4s off the pace in seventh

Ma is back on track for HRT, and he's currently 17 seconds off the pace. He can be forgiven for being cautious though, and is only 1.3s slower than his team-mate de la Rosa

Perez goes second, 0.6s slower than Rosberg

Schumacher's improved to a 1:54.201 and Hulkenberg is now fifth on a 1:54.476

Button goes second on a 1:53.862. Everyone on soft tyres now

Massa is out on track, his first time is 2.5s off the pace

Raikkonen goes fastest with a 1:53.268

Hulkenberg up to second, 0.08s slower than Raikkonen, but Rosberg is flying

Tight at the top as Perez goes second, 0.035s off Raikkonen's time

Kobayashi is sat in the garage (and has been for a little while) with Sauber mechanics swarming over the rear of his car

Grosjean almost gets turn ten wrong and bounces over the kerbs but catches the car well

Hamilton on a quick lap, fastest first and second sectors

Perez now quickest on a 1:52.296

Hamilton had to back out so couldn't improve, while Vettel goes fastest with a 1:51.986

The quickest time in FP1 last year was a 1:48.599 from Hamilton

Hulkenberg goes quickest with a 1:51.864 before Maldonado beats it with a 1:51.576

Will we see the 1m50s mark beaten in this final half hour? If it stays dry I'm going to say yes...

Alonso is down in 22nd but yet to set a time on slick tyres

Pavel emails in to ask: "Hello guys and greetings fom Moscow! I hope that Kimi will make all his fans happy at this weekend! Does Lotus run their DDRS which was announced on practice two races before?"

No Pavel, the DDRS would not be well suited to this circuit so it's looking to run that in Suzuka. It does have a new rear wing though, which should give it maximum downforce here but also ensure the DRS is very effective when active

Hulkenberg does the fastest middle sector but can't knock Maldonado off the top spot - he's now just 0.082s slower than the Williams

Webber goes second with a 1:51.655

Vettel pushing hard with a lock-up and sliding towards the barriers at turn 19. He goes fastest with a 1:51.367

Ma rejoins the track behind his team-mate de la Rosa; he's currently 0.7s slower than the other HRT

Rosberg is told that Mercedes is not expecting rain now before the end of the session

Hamilton does the fastest first sector en-route to the fastest time with a 1:51.172

Alonso back on track on slicks for the first time today

Glock's done a good lap - 3.7s off the pace around such a long circuit and 0.8s quicker than the fastest Caterham so far...

Hamilton backs out of turn ten and leaps over the middle kerb

For those asking about tyres, everyone is on slicks and everyone on soft tyres as they never use the option tyre (supersoft here) in FP1 when evaluating new parts

Hamilton improves to a 1:50.615 at the top of the timesheets, leaving 20 minutes for my sub-1m50s prediction to come true

Alonso's first dry lap puts him 19th. It takes a while to build up before pushing at 100% due to the vicinity of the walls

Vettel goes quickest with the fastest second and third sectors - a 1:50.566 the result

Johan asks: "What is the weather forecast for the weekend? Where is the DRS zone on the circuit?"

The forecast is for a dry weekend, although there may be thundery showers at certain points when there is no track action. The DRS zone remains unchanged from 2011 - it is between turns five and seven

Ma goes faster than de la Rosa as they both finally set competitive times on slicks. It doesn't last long though as de la Rosa beats him with a 1:57.734 to go 0.3s quicker

De la Rosa is testing HRT's new floor, but Ma isn't

Simon asks: "How much slower than Maldonado is Senna?"

Senna is a second slower than his team-mate at present, but Maldonado had just gone straight on at turn nine and had to reverse his Williams having stopped just short of the wall

We're now in full darkness and getting the desired effect of the lights in the city. It's a great sight

My hopes for beating the 1m50s mark have just been hurt as Hamilton is out of the car and getting changed so his running is done with 11 minutes late

Vettel and Hamilton, incidentally, are both a second quicker than anyone else

Having said that, Alonso goes third quickest with a 1:51.525 - 0.959s slower than Vettel

Heavier fuel runs going on at the moment, with only Button improving as he evaluates some rear wing updates

Hamilton was the fastest man in the three sectors in terms of kph and also the fastest in the speed trap. He was half a second slower than Vettel in the final sector on their respective best laps though

Senna has stopped on track...

We had a yellow flag and Senna's reading as stopped in sector one on the timing screen but we haven't seen why yet

Raikkonen pushing on but after locking up in turn 16 he backs out of this lap

The two Ferraris pit line astern - Massa lays down some rubber and rejoins but Alonso is wheeled back in to the garage so his session is done with

Another yellow flag, but again we're yet to see why...

We had a yellow for a good 30 seconds and it was Perez running wide at turn nine like Maldonado had earlier

Senna, incidentally, is now running again... strange

Neville says: "Looks like the Mercs are dissappointing again."

Schumacher is 14th and Rosberg 18th, but do not fear Neville; while the team is analysing the updates it will be gathering data rather than pushing for quick lap times

Button improves to third quickest - 0.893s slower than Vettel

The chequered flag is out with a few drivers improving

Nobody threatening Vettel's fastest time though

Webber doesn't improve in the end, and nor does Vergne or Kovalainen - so Glock stays ahead of both Caterhams

Mihkel asks how Lotus is looking. Raikkonen ends the session 12th and Grosjean 15th but Lotus is rarely topping the times in FP1. The second session later tonight is when we'll get a clearer picture of race pace at least

So the session ends with Vettel quickest from Hamilton by just 0.049s. Hamilton was the least productive driver with just 15 laps but he'll still be confident after setting that time. Button was next quickest but nearly 0.9s further back, with the field a lot closer behind the front two; 3rd to 10th is covered by less than a second on a lap time of over 1m50s.

Who will be quickest in FP2? You'll have to join us again in just under two hours' time to find out. Bye for now.