With the track lights ablaze the opening Friday practice session for the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix would get underway with the Force India cars first out onto the circuit. The teams would have the soft and super soft tyres to use during the weekend. Both AT&T Williams drivers, Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima, would join the rush of drivers taking to the track. Nico would carry out a radio check as he went around the track. He would complain about a lot of porposing with the car. Nico was on the softer tyre. Replays would show the bottom of Kazuki's car striking the road surface as he went over the bumps going into Turn eight. Raikkonen and Massa had yet to take to the track with five minutes of the session run. Hamilton would come out to an empty track as the drivers pitted after their installation lap.

The track was now empty for a few minutes and it would be Button who would be the first driver to come back out. The track was certainly very well lit making for an impressive sight. He was joined by Trulli, Glock, Bourdais, and Vettel. With an hour fifteen remaining Button would start a timed lap. His time for the lap would be a 1m:59.967. Glock was on a quicker lap finishing with a 1m:52.618. Bourdais was now second with a 1m:58.758. Sir Frank Williams was in the Williams garage. Trulli, 1m:57.455, would move into second but Button would move ahead with a 1m:54.131. Glock would improve with a 1m:49.942. The times were coming down with Bourdais now second, 1m:53.276. Vettel was fifth, 1m:57.566. Glock would lower his quickest time with a 1m:49.396.

The first of the Ferrari's, Raikkonen, was now out on the track. Trulli was now third, 1m:53.288. Kazuki was complaining that the bumpiest part of the track was between turns five and seven. Both Bourdais and Trulli were now in the 1m:51 seconds. Bourdais, 1m:51.003, and Trulli 1m:51.929. Bourdais would improve with a 1m:50.029. Both Renault's were out on the track, joined by Nico, Webber, Sutil, Heidfeld, and Barrichello. Button had pitted as the track started to get very busy. Glock was even also out on the track. Raikkonen was in seventh with a 1m:55.074. Bourdais had pitted. On his next lap Kimi would move into third, 1m:50.408, but this would become fourth as Trulli joined Glock at the front going second fastest, 1m:49.926. Raikkonen was in fifth followed by Vettel, Heidfeld, Webber, Nico, and Button in tenth.

Again Glock would lower his lap time with a 1m:48.155. Alonso had moved up to third, 1m:49.985. The record of been the first driver to crash on the new circuit would go to Webber as he ran wide and into the wall going into Turn eighteen, the one that leads into the tunnel underneath the grandstand. With just under an hour remaining the order was Glock from Trulli, Alonso, Bourdais, Raikkonen, Vettel, Piquet, Heidfeld, Nico, Coulthard. Kazuki was down in fifteenth with a 1m:56.529. Massa was down in fourteenth, 1m:55.286. Both Toyota's had pitted. Alonso was on a quick lap being fastest in the first two sectors. Kubica was now fifth, 1m:50.221. Alonso would remain the third after a slow final sector.

Nico was able to show some pace moving into second with a 1m:48.744. His time was set on the harder tyre. But Kubica would push him down to third as he went second fastest, 1m:48.514. Kazuki was now in tenth with a 1m:50.413. Massa and Heidfeld were now fourth and fifth, 1m:49.605 & 1m:49.647. Raikkonen was now thirteenth and Kazuki fourteenth as other drivers improved their times. Alonso was now fastest with a 1m:47.344. Kubica had also improved with a 1m:47.783. Both Williams drivers had pitted. Massa was now third with a 1m:48.120. Both of the McLaren's were now out on the track with fifty minutes remaining. Hamilton's first lap would see him fifth, 1m:48.418. Nico was now seventh. Button had improve significantly to now be third, 1m:47.928. Kovalainen was down in fifteenth, 1m:50.359.

The top four drivers were all in their pits as fifth placed Glock came back out. Hamilton was now second, 1m:47.702, and Kovalainen fifth, 1m:47.979. Both Torro Rosso cars were back out. Trulli would spin his car coming onto the main straight but was able to continue. Nico and Kazuki were back out as Hamilton went fastest with a 1m:47.160. Raikkonen was also back out joined by Alonso. Vettel was now ninth, 1m:48.678. Kovalainen would also spin coming onto the main straight. Bourdais had complained to his team regarding where the white line was painted on this turn. Kazuki was now eighth, 1m:48.528. Nico was down in eleventh, 1m:48.744. Nico was told by his team to keep off the white line going into the final corner where Trulli and Kovalainen had spun.

Nico would put in a quick lap that would see him improve to be in third, 1m:47.463. Alonso was now back on top with a 1m:46.959. Both McLaren's were back in their pits. Massa was now up to third, 1m:47.218, pushing Nico down to fourth. Kazuki was now eleventh, 1m:48.528. Both Williams drivers would pit. Raikkonen was now in eighth, 1m:48.123. Kubica was fourth with a 1m:47.311. Massa was able to put in a very quick lap to move ahead of Alonso with a 1m:46.415. Hamilton was back out and was now in third, 1m:47.160. Kubica and Raikkonen would join Massa at the front as Kubica and Raikkonen moved into second and third, 1m:46.618 & 1m:46.782. Alonso was fourth followed by Hamilton, Nico, Button, Kovalainen, Bourdais, and Glock. Raikkonen was able to move ahead of his Ferrari team-mate with a 1m:46.103. Massa had improved with a 1m:46.222. Nico was back out on the track as Hamilton spoilt things for Ferrari by going fastest with a 1m:46.035.

Raikkonen would pit briefly while Massa would also come in for a quick stop. Only a handful of drivers were in their pits. Kazuki was back out on the track. All of the top six would pit with Hamilton returning after making a quick stop. Nico was still in seventh while Kazuki was down in fourteenth. Kovalainen would improve to now be in fifth, 1m:46.743. Kovalainen would improve to now be in fourth, 1m:46.463. Hamilton was now into the 1m:45 seconds with a 1m:45.936. Nico was now in eighth. while Kazuki had improved to be twelfth, 1m:48.027. Kovalainen would pit while Kubica came back out. Kazuki would pit with seventeen minutes left in the session. Nico would also come in joined by Hamilton. Vettel was another driver to have a moment running wide going through the final turn. Raikkonen was back out. Team-mate Massa would follow him.

Barrichello would be another to spin on the final turn going into the protective barriers rear end first ending his session. Ten minutes left in the session and Massa would pit still in third, 1m:46.222. Raikkonen was second with a 1m:46.103. Nico was eighth and Kazuki twelfth. Both drivers were still in the Williams pit. Raikkonen would pit while Hamilton came back out, joined by Kovalainen. Despite their being a yellow at the site of Barrichello's accident most of the field were back out, including Raikkonen. Only Bourdais was left in his pit as the final five minutes counted down. Nico had improved two places to be in sixth, 1m:46.759. Raikkonen was on a quick lap dropping into the 1m:45 seconds with a 1m:45.961. He remained in second. Hamilton would improve with a 1m:45.518.

Sutil would spin his car near the end of the session while Nico had improved his time with a 1m:46.710 but remained in sixth. With the end of the session the order was Hamilton from Massa, 1m:45.598, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Kubica, Nico, Alonso, Heidfeld, Piquet, and in tenth Button. Kazuki was down in
twelfth, 1m:47.662. An interesting opening session for the Singapore Grand Prix with the main taking point being the number of drivers who had spun or ran wide at the final turn. As for the Williams team a sixth for Nico and a twelfth for Kazuki is a positive start to the weekend for the team that needs to take home a good result from this weekend.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:45.518  20
 2.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:45.598  23
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:45.961  24
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:46.463  20
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:46.618  23
 6.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:46.710  25
 7.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:46.725  29
 8.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:46.964  24
 9.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:47.175  30
10.  Button        Honda                (B)  1:47.277  30
11.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:47.570  28
12.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)  1:47.662  23
13.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:47.706  27
14.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:48.097  16
15.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:48.517  23
16.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:48.725  19
17.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:48.839  24
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:48.906  25
19.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:49.064  29
20.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:53.703  4