Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) a été le plus rapide de la première séance d’essais libres du Grand Prix de Singapour. Il a devancé Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) et Mark Webber (Red Bull). Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) est 4e, alors que Jenson Button a fait le 5e temps. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) est 10e.
| 1 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:48.599 | 10 | |
| 2 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:49.005 | 0.406 | 15 |
| 3 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:50.066 | 1.467 | 16 |
| 4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:50.596 | 1.997 | 11 |
| 5 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:50.952 | 2.353 | 12 |
| 6 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:52.043 | 3.444 | 14 |
| 7 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:52.251 | 3.652 | 13 |
| 8 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:52.416 | 3.817 | 12 |
| 9 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:52.435 | 3.836 | 13 |
| 10 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:52.815 | 4.216 | 13 |
| 11 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:52.991 | 4.392 | 17 |
| 12 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:53.050 | 4.451 | 17 |
| 13 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:53.399 | 4.800 | 18 |
| 14 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:53.703 | 5.104 | 19 |
| 15 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:53.749 | 5.150 | 12 |
| 16 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 1:53.765 | 5.166 | 17 |
| 17 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:53.785 | 5.186 | 16 |
| 18 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:54.736 | 6.137 | 8 |
| 19 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:54.821 | 6.222 | 9 |
| 20 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:56.198 | 7.599 | 8 |
| 21 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:57.798 | 9.199 | 13 |
| 22 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:58.792 | 10.193 | 6 |
| 23 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 1:59.169 | 10.570 | 17 |
| 24 | 23 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:59.214 | 10.615 | 18 |