F1 LIVE: Lewis Hamilton targets strong showing in practice at Singapore Grand Prix

We’re underway with first practice at the Marina Bay circuit in Singapore - for the first time since 2019!

Sky has today announced a new multi-year extension of its broadcast partnership with Formula 1, cementing Sky as the official broadcaster of the sport in all Sky markets. Sky UK & Ireland will remain the exclusive home of F1 until 2029.

The 2022 season has set viewing records with millions of new viewers for the sport across all of Sky’s markets, driven by younger and female fans.

“Sky not only brings fans live coverage but a range of behind-the-scenes access and content that brings F1 to life. We are hugely excited about the future of the partnership and the journey of Formula 1.”

Verstappen to win 14 races in 2022 season 2/5

Verstappen to win 8 world titles 10/1

Verstappen to retire with a record of most career wins 20/1

Lewis Hamilton to win a race in 2022 season 6/4

George Russell to win a race in 2022 season 3/1

Lewis Hamilton to retire at end of 2022 season 5/1

Ross Brawn has backed Mercedes to adapt to Formula 1’s new regulations, declaring: “They are not idiots.” Rule-changes introduced for the 2022 F1 season have seen alterations made to the front and rear wings of cars, as well as to the vehicles’ floors.

Mercedes won the constructors’ championship in 2021 and only missed out on the drivers’ title after a controversial final lap in the last race of the season, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed his first championship. Mercedes have been well off the pace this year, however, but Brawn believes that they will improve.

The F1 managing director, who previously worked as Mercedes’ team prinicipal, discussed the new regulations with F1 Insider and said: “Basically, I am very satisfied. The cars can follow each other more closely and overtake better as a result. Side-by-side driving has also become easier.

“Before, not many people knew that a car also lost performance there. [Tyre manufacturer] Pirelli has also contributed to the improvement. So, everything has worked well up to this point.

The team are without a win so far in the 2022 Formula 1 season

Alex Albon will take part in this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, three weeks after he suffered respiratory failure and was left on a ventilator. The London-born Williams driver endured complications from surgery when he was sidelined from the last round in Italy with appendicitis.

But the 26-year-old insists he is ready to return to his Williams cockpit, despite Sunday’s race in the humidity of Singapore considered among the hardest challenges of the year.

“My preparation for Singapore has been a little different than normal, but I’m feeling good and I’ve done everything possible to get ready for one of the most physical races on the calendar,” said Albon.

“I am not underestimating how big of a challenge this is going to be, but I am looking forward to hitting the track on Friday and getting back driving. It’s a great street circuit and the closest race to home for me in Thailand, so I’m really excited to be here and to see the fans that have turned out.”

The Williams drive said he is ‘not underestimating how big of a challenge this is going to be’.

For a man whose irrepressible ambition and unique talent has taken him to the cusp of Formula 1’s summit, George Russell could be forgiven for thinking 2022 hasn’t quite matched his lofty expectations. Waiting in the wings – aching for three years at the back of the pack with Williams – the 24-year-old’s long-heralded spot in the Mercedes garage was, most assumed, the final step on the road to fulfilment. Grand Prix victories, and subsequent title pursuits, were surely a slam-dunk inevitability.

Yet the scale of the struggle at Mercedes this season, toiling with their car’s violent oscillations and unpredictability, sees the Brit widely praised for his steadiness behind the wheel. With six races to go Russell is postioned in fourth, 35 points ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in second is just 16 points clear, as F1 heads to the humidity of Singapore for the first time in three years this weekend.

But despite the commendation, with seven podiums to his name and a top-five finish in every race bar one, race-by-race consistency is not the ultimate aim of the game.

“I don’t care about finishing second in the Championship, it’s not my goal,” Russell sternly tells The Independent, in his team’s Monza motorhome. We’re all here to win. You give me a choice between finishing fourth in the Championship and having a race win or two under my belt or finishing second with no wins, I’ll take fourth. That is now the position we’re in, we want to win a race.”

Exclusive interview: The Mercedes star speaks about the ‘thrill’ of his pole position in Budapest and finding the right balance away from racing

Lewis Hamilton remains hopeful that Mercedes are “not too far away” from a first win of the season as F1 returns to Singapore this weekend. The eight-time constructors’ champions are yet to taste victory in 2022 and with just six races to go, the Silver Arrows are looking to avoid their first winless season since 2011.

Hamilton himself has a record to maintain too, having won a race in each of his previous 15 seasons in F1, yet has not been top of the podium in the previous 16 Grands Prix this year. But Hamilton, a four-time winner in Singapore, believes Mercedes are in a “much better place than they’ve ever been” this year as the team look to overhaul Ferrari, 35 points ahead in the standings.

“Good to be back [in Singapore], 2019 feels like a lifetime ago,” Hamilton said, in the FIA press conference ahead of this weekend’s race. The track is epic to drive. It’s a very bumpy ride, that lap in 2018 [qualifying] was definitely one of the best laps of my career. The hope is always that you can feel something similar, the feeling that day was something very unique.

“It was a track we struggled at quite a lot, due to ride quality that we hadn’t been as good as some of the others. We will discover if this is a true theory this weekend. We hope the car works better here, it really depends how bumpy it is. The bumps often upset the car. I have no expectations at all, just trying to have the best weekend with whatever we’re faced with.

The Silver Arrows are looking to avoid their first winless season since 2011