Lewis Hamilton trailed Kimi Raikkonen by just 0.011 seconds as his championship rival Sebastian Vettel collided with the wall in second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.

Defending champion Hamilton was a distant sixth in the opening running at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Friday, but he will be encouraged by his competitive time under the floodlights.

For Vettel, who trails Hamilton by 30 points in the race for this season’s title, he finished only ninth after running wide at the final chicane and hitting the barriers.

The German sustained damage to the right-hand side of his Ferrari and missed the majority of the 90-minute session.

Mercedes have struggled at this slow-speed temporary track in recent seasons, and Hamilton appeared on course for a difficult day after finishing the opening running 1.5 seconds off the front-runners.

Hamilton, however, ended the evening on the coattails of Raikkonen’s Ferrari to suggest he could yet be in contention for the victory on Sunday.

Vettel arrived in the Far East on the back of his disappointing outing at Ferrari’s home in Monza, where he finished only fourth after a clumsy opening-lap collision with Hamilton.

It marked another error for the German this season, and on Friday he was found wanting yet again

Vettel thudded the barriers, and the ensuing damage forced him to abandon his session.

As such, Vettel completed just 12 laps, the fewest of any driver, to leave him on the backfoot heading into the remainder of the weekend.

Red Bull had been fastest in the first session, but Max Verstappen finished third later in the day ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The duo were half-a-second slower than Raikkonen’s best time. Valtteri Bottas finished fifth for Mercedes.

Earlier in the day, Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate for next year, Charles Leclerc, also found trouble after he hit the wall on the exit of the Anderson Bridge.

The 20-year-old Monegasque, who will replace veteran Raikkonen at the Prancing Horse in 2019, bumped the inside of the barriers at the Cricket Club Chicane and was forced to pull over at turn 13.

“Sorry guys, it was my fault,” the 20-year-old said over the radio. “I touched the wall.” He returned for the second session before finishing 14th.

Romain Grosjean finished seventh in his Haas ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso. Renault driver, Nico Hulkenberg, taking part in his 150th grand prix, completed the top 10.