Welcome back to ESPNF1's live coverage of the Singapore Grand Prix. Next up is second practice and we should start to get a clearer picture of who's quick and who's not this weekend. We had a damp start to FP1 but it soon dried up and Sebastian Vettel ended up fastest by 0.049s from Lewis Hamilton on the soft tyres.

The first practice session also saw the sun dip down over the Singapore skyline, but for FP2 its pitch black from the start and that means the conditions are closer to those the teams will experience in qualifying and the race.

Several teams are testing new bits and pieces on their cars this weekend. Mercedes is working on a new exhaust system, which goes some way to explaining why its drivers did not set scintillating lap times, as the team was working on tweaking the new package. After spending such a long time working on tyre degradation earlier in the year, this is one of the first major performance-led upgrades on the car in a long time and the team needs it to come good.

Fernando Alonso said Ferrari also had some new parts to try in this session, which Lewis Hamilton said he was confident McLaren could combat. With the competition so tight this year, the teams' updates often cancel each other out, although it is often the case that some cars are better suited to some circuits and conditions over others.

Rahulan asks: "Would the teams have run all their upgrades in the first session considering the session was not completely dry."

Once the session turned dry most teams would have had the confidence to run their updates. Because the track improves over the weekend, FP1 isn't that useful for setup work so it provides a good opportunity to gather data on new parts.

Wejuli asks: "How are the McLarens looking so far on this circuit? Any chance Lewis will run away with it and take the fight to the Alonso's Ferrari?"

McLaren have won the last three races on three very different circuits so there is no reason to think they won't be quick here this weekend. If anything they will be the team to beat and the first practice session appeared to back that up. Ferrari might struggle a bit here, but you wouldn't rule Alonso out of a shot at the podium. Expect Red Bull to be back on top form with the return to a full-downforce circuit and the soft and super-soft tyres.

The session is underway with Charles Pic, Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna on track.

Akshay asks: "Has Sahara Force India brought any updates for this race?"

I'm not sure on the specific changes to the car for this weekend but Paul di Resta did say on Thursday that the team has now shifted its focus to 2013 so there will be fewer new parts on the car. But with the regulations remaining constant a lot of teams will start trialling new parts for 2013 towards the end of this season.

A few drivers running a little wide early in this session. Perez skips the chicane at turn 10 (also known as the Singapore Sling) and Maldonado out-braking himself at turn five.

Di Resta is currently fastest with a 1:51.414, but it's still very early in the session. We can expect times in the 1:49s when the drivers take on super-soft tyres later in this session.

Karthik asks: "What are the chances of rain for this session?"

It looks like its going to stay dry but we will keep you up to date with any weather radar reports that suggest rain.

Rod from Canada asks: "I would like to know if you think Raikkonen has a shot at a podium. I sure like Lewis and I know last year's winner Seb has a track that suits his car, but what about Kimi with all the upgrades I hear they will have. Who do you like for the win?"

The circuit is certainly a better match for the Lotus than Monza was two weeks ago. The team has a new DRS rear wing this weekend (although it's not the double DRS it was testing earlier this year) so they will be hoping that helps in qualifying. On race pace they should be quick, but if they can't qualify high enough they will struggle to pass other cars in the race.

As for a winner ... we picked Seb Vettel in our preview so we'll stick with him.

Button is now fastest on a 1:50.837. Webber is 0.508s off in second. Alonso is currently trying to find some clear space to get a lap in after running up behind team-mate Massa.

Maldonado now posts a decent lap with a 1:50.872. This circuit could suit his style and the Williams this year as it's similar to Valencia where he should have scored a podium earlier this season (he took out Hamilton on the penultimate lap in the end). Certainly one to watch.

Hamilton's first lap of the session is a 1:50.561, he's clearly very comfortable out there this weekend.

Meanwhile, Vettel is lapping a little off the pace in 23rd but has backed off on a few of his faster laps.

Another reason for Vettel's lack of pace is that he ran wide at the Singapore Sling on the last lap.

Mario asks: "Don't you think that Di Montezemolo was a bit to far with comments of the lack of experience from Sergio Perez to join the Italian team next year? Was that a kind of a no-way employement with Ferrari? Perez was diplomatic in the press-conference yesterday by saying that he respects the Ferrari President, but, what about if he wins? Remember Malaysia!"

I agree that it seems a bit odd for Ferrari to rule out Perez for 2013. He's scored three podiums this year and Massa hasn't scored one since 2010. I don't think it matters how experienced the driver is, that statistic speaks for itself. I would argue he is ready.

Back on track, and Vettel has now gone fastest. He's set a 1:50.497, 0.064s faster than Hamilton, who is stuck behind an HRT.

There aren't actually that many cars on track (four in fact) so it was a little unfortunate for Hamilton to encounter a car at the end of that lap.

With a bit of clear track Hamilton goes fastest again with a 1:50.074. He set fastest sectors in the final two sectors. He was 0.423s faster than Vettel overall.

And Hamilton returns to the pits. Button has just gone back out so it will be interesting to see how he compares.

Alonso is currently 1.063s off Hamilton running a new rear wing on the Ferrari. He'll be hoping that isn't representative of his pace later in the weekend.

Senna clobbers the kerbs hard at the Singapore Sling but was going slow enough to avoid the barriers. He may well have caused some damage to the floor of the car though. He's also out on super-soft tyres.

Alonso has just improved to a 1:50.734 with his personal best. He's now 0.660s off Hamilton.

Vergne and the two Saubers are also on super-soft tyres.

Rowan is not impressed with Senna so far this year: "Once again he is dog slow compared to Pastor. No raw pace or natural ability. Wont see him in F1 next year, that's a fact."

Liam on Schumacher's future (be it at Mercedes or elsewhere): "It was interesting to read in some of the FP1 comments that the problem about the concept of Schumacher going to another team in 2013; The idea of Schumacher being groomed as an ambassador for Mercedes. Given this is a man who (Apart from being one of the highest earning sportsmen in history) has controversially crashed into Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve , parked his car in qualifying in Monaco, and nearly run Rubens Barichello into a wall, what do you think is more important to a man like that? Some pocket change from Mercedes as an ambassador, or a win before retiring from the sport for the second time after so many pundits said he couldn't do it?"

Senna has stopped on track. It looks like he might have had a spin but we'll wait for a replay to confirm that. He's safely out of the car which has been left stranded at turn 20.

He ran a touch wide in turn 19 and clipped the wall. He then spun on the way down to turn 20 and the car appeared to stall. That's the end of his session.

Senna watches on as the marshals struggle to get his car behind a barrier. The session has been red flagged.

The red flags come out just as Alonso was heading out on new super-softs. Not ideal timing for the Ferrari driver.

Williams confirms they will not get Senna's car back before the end of FP1: "Bruno stopped out on track - car will be returned after the session so early end to the day"

It's only four corners away, but the marshal's are now having to crane it off the circuit.

Hein agrees with Liam on Schumacher: "Liam, I fully agree with you. He is just like Senna senior. Senna rammed Prost off the track when he could not get his way, hit Eddie Irvine with the fist when Eddie overtook him in a corner. What can we say about the greats of the past ?"

Rich adds: "Good perspective, Liam. thanx for not being controversial :)"

Tomas on the Senna/Maldonado comparison: "A little comment to equal out all the Pastor backers: Don't forget that Senna scored on seven occasion, while Maldonado only twice. Pastor still might have the upper hand in points and sheer pace, but Senna is more reliable come race day. Would like him to replace Heikki in Caterham to gain more experience, if Bottas gets his seat. On an unrelated note: Heikki to Mercedes anyone?"

The session is back underway. Rosberg, Vettel and Petrov are all on track.

Massa has gone out on super-soft tyres. It will be interesting to see what the Ferrari can do on the softer rubber. We're still waiting for somebody to break into the 1:49s. Hamilton, who has also just gone out on super-softs, is still fastest on a 1:50.074.

Massa clocks the fastest time with a 1:50.039.

Massa clocks the fastest time with a 1:50.039. Hamilton is on a personal best though ...

And Hamilton goes quickest by quite some way with a 1:49.086. He ran very wide in the final corner and had to back off so could go quicker still with a clean lap.

Webber manages a 1:48.964s on the super-softs to go fastest but found all his time on the McLaren in the final sector where Hamilton made his mistake.

Hamilton has backed off on his next lap, but may go for another run if he has the fuel to do so ... it looks like he does as he sets another fastest first sector on his next lap.

Schumacher goes fourth fastest on super-soft tyres, 1.299s off Webber's time.

Maldonado can only manage seventh fastest and looks a little ragged on his super-softs.

Hamilton pits before he can complete his next lap so won't have the chance to retake the top spot on this run.

Humphrey joins the conversation: "Heikki to Mercedes? I don't think that will happen"

Rowan on Senna's spin: "I say no more! Under pressure and out of it! Bet Bottas is laughing his head off!"

Rich's view on the driver criticism: "It is so easy for all of us former / retired / has-been / arm chair racers to criticize the guys on track. I think they are all pretty awesome drivers - including former big names and the back of the field and the reserve drivers. some are just more awesome than others..."

Alonso is now fastest with a 1:48.896 on the super-soft tyres. Impressive stuff but still only 0.190s faster than Hamilton's lap with that big mistake.

Now Button shows the true pace of the McLaren with a 1:48.651. He was fastest of all in the first sector, but not in sectors two and three.

It's also worth mentioning the Force Indias in this session. Di Resta is fifth and Hulkenberg is sixth, and both are within 0.7s of Button. That bodes well for a competitive weekend. The next fastest driver - Massa - is a further 0.7s slower.

Vettel is now out on super-soft tyres so might ruin the party for McLaren.

He's 0.2s slower than Button in sector one, 0.1s faster in sector two ... and 0.311s faster overall with a fantastic final sector.

So Vettel leads the way with a 1:48.340. You feel Hamilton might have been able to get close to that had he not run wide on his hot lap, but unfortunately we might not know for sure until tomorrow.

Denis: "Here's a scenario that would fit the silly season wonderfully… Hamilton to Mercedes; Schumacher to Ferrari and Massa to McLaren…."

I think quite a few people might agree with the first two bits, but, as you say, the final one is probably a bit too silly!

Enzo says: "Rich makes a valid point as regards driver criticism. Trust me, 99% of you couldn't get an F1 car to move under its own power- you'd stall it a few times and fry the clutch before getting off pit lane."

Hamilton is back on track on the super-soft tyres. The question is whether he will go for another low-fuel lap or whether his McLaren is now fat with fuel to simulate the wear on the tyres at the start of the race...

Liam says: "Just as Rich said about arm-chair criticism, it's so easy to forget how important the car is. We really only ever know half of how good a driver is; Just look at the current scenario at Ferrari. Several fellows in the midfield could probably put Massa's car a position behind Alonso--or even in front! Perez, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Raikonnen (obviously), you name it!"

Judging by Hamilton's first lap he is running heavy fuel so we won't get a true reading of his pace until tomorrow. But it's safe to say that he could have gone a lot quicker on his fast lap and he finished up 0.746s off Vettel's best.

Steven says: "How many of us have seen someone FINALLY get an opportunity in decent equipment and were stunned how good they were? I'd love to see a driver/car swap day. One thing I know is the guys toward the back are working twice as hard with ill handling or under powered engines and are possibly amazingly good, given the chance to show it in top notch equipment."

It looks like all the drivers have now swtitched to heavy fuel loads on super-soft tyres. This part of the session is vital for the teams to understand how far the tyres will go at the start of the race and what kind of pace the car can manage on heavy fuel.

Rich adds: "I was a super human driver from hell in my day. but glad I did not have to compete with the guys on the F1 grid today :)"

Perez and Massa have just gone out on soft tyres to see what they can manage with a heavier fuel load. Plenty of work going on with Sunday in mind at the moment.

Siddhesh says: "Mercedes pace has been disappointing so far, further setup changes needed? Hopefully the updates will work better on race-trim."

We'll see if we can get some reaction from the drivers after the session on that. Stay logged on to the website or our Twitter account for the latest.

And you have to remind yourself that it is now 22:45 in Singapore, which is past most drivers' bed time at a normal race weekend.

Maximiliano says: "Just wondering why nobody has even thought about Hamilton in Ferrari for next year. He wants to win and a part from McLaren I don't see any other team who could appeal him more than Ferrari. Moreover he's been sending out little hints about that in the past. In Monza he complimented Alonso, had an Italian flag on his helmet, made comments on the podium about the Italian fans . On Ferrari's hand - like Montezemolo said - they don't want someone as young as Perez (so I assume Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Maldonado are out of the picture) but need someone at least as good as Massa, who else are they left with? Just wondering...."

Most people assume that Alonso would not allow Hamilton to come in as his team-mate. We know he has some say in who the team appoints and Ferrari does have a history of having No.1 and No.2 drivers. But in F1 nothing is impossible ...

18 cars are on track again, so it's fairly busy but not so frantic as drivers concentrate on race runs rather than fast laps.

Perez has gone straight on at turn 14. He had his nose up against the barrier but it looks like he just missed it. No obvious damage. He had to find reverse to back out tough.

Rhemy says: "Really like your comments on the F1 weekends. Let's not forget that Alonso - Hamilton did not fare too well when they were teammates in the past. But who knows. it's indeed F1"

Siddhesh says: "Just thinking, if Hammy comes to Merc, why not swap and have Schumi @ Mclaren? Hammy wants the money and the fame, Michael has both and just wants to get another championship. Seems win-win to me!"

But does McLaren want Schumacher?

Talking of Schumacher, he is out of his Mercedes and taking his overalls off. Obviously an early bath for him. Judging by his body language, he's not too happy about his session. He finished 11th in the standings, 1.923s off Vettel.

Kobayashi locks a brake and runs wide at turn one. No damage done as there's a massive run off inside the apex of turn two, but further proof of just how tricky this track is.

Matias says: "Alonso has repeatedly said this season that he would have 0 problems with Hamilton being his team-mate"

Karthikeyan gets airborne through the Singapore Sling. That's probably the highest we've seen any car jump over those kerbs today. He gathers it up and manages to keep it out of the barriers.

Rocky asks: "How's Mclaren's race pace simulation runs, particularly that of Lewis, compare to that of Ferrari and the drinks company chassis?"

Purely on times Hamilton appears to be off the pace, but we don't know fuel loads. Unfortunately we could do with a little more data to get a true reading.

The session comes to an end with Kobayashi spinning at turn 18 on the corner under the grandstand. He just avoided the wall by pitching the car into a spin and then rolled backwards down the next straight to give himself the space to get his car pointing in the right direction. An odd sight!

Vettel's time remains safe at the top of the timesheets by 0.311s. Alonso was third fastest ahead of Webber while Hamilton was fifth 0.746s off the pace. However, we reckon Hamilton could have been a match for Vettel had he not run wide in the final corner on his hot lap. It's also worth remembering that Vettel went out later than his competitors when the track would have improved.

Thanks for joining us for this practice session. We'll have plenty of reaction from the drivers this evening so make sure you stay logged on to ESPNF1.com for all the latest. We'll also be back with more live commentary tomorrow for final practice and qualifying.