Red Bull lay down a marker to Mercedes in opening practice for the Singapore Grand Prix as Max Verstappen headed a one-two with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo while Lewis Hamilton was fourth and his championship rival Nico Rosberg crashed out.
Hamilton's Mercedes team, who have dominated Formula One for the best part of three seasons, were bizarrely off the pace at the Marina Bay Circuit last year.
And despite posting their best efforts on the faster ultrasoft tyre compound, Red Bull's promising performance in the first practice session of the weekend will provide them with hope that they could take the fight to Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg this weekend.
Verstappen's fastest lap of one minute and 45.823 seconds was marginally quicker than that of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, a four-time winner at the sport's first night race, was also ahead of the Mercedes pair in third, 0.464 seconds off the pace.
Hamilton and his sole title rival Rosberg - who sustained damage to his front wing after crashing at turn 18 with 10 minutes of the 90 remaining - were fourth and fifth respectively, more than half a second slower than the Red Bull pair.
While Rosberg, who is just two points adrift of Hamilton in the championship after winning the last two races, was able to limp back to the pits, his error is unlikely to have aided his confidence at a circuit where he has failed to record a top-three finish since 2008.
The German is, however, expected to take part in the second practice session later on Friday.
McLaren driver Jenson Button claimed on Thursday that the best he could hope for was seventh this weekend, but the 2009 world champion, who will not be racing in Formula One next season after recently announcing he will take a break from the sport, was only 16th in the order.
The early phase of his session was blighted by a mechanical problem within his McLaren which saw him stop on track after completing only one lap. He was pushed back to the pit lane after some impressive work from the marshals.
Button finished one place ahead of British rookie Jolyon Palmer, who was four seconds slower than Verstappen, but, perhaps more importantly, nearly half-a-second faster than his Renault team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
Palmer, the 25-year-old from Horsham, is hoping to convince his Renault bosses he is worthy of a second season in the sport with the Enstone-team yet to determine their driver line-up for 2017.
Source: PA
