Chinese GP: Free Practice 1 - Re-Cap & Results

We're about an hour away from Free Practice 2 at Shanghai International Circuit, so it's time for a Re-Cap of what happened earlier in Free Practice 1. As always, I'm doing LIVE COMMENTARY COVERAGE on my Twitter @F1Insider78 - So make sure to join in for FP2!

The session started out with a very cloudy and overcast appearance, along with cold temperatures. Cold temperatures make it hard to get heat into the tyres and we saw some drivers struggling with that in the Session. I must note that Giedo Van Der Garde took over for Adrian Sutil for the session while Felipe Nasr took over for Bottas. Although there wasn't any Red Flags, we did see quite a few drivers going off into the gravel and/or spinning the car. It started with Maldonado, who spun out, and while he was emerging back out onto the circuit, he spun again. Kvyat also spun into the gravel, but luckily recovered.

Kimi Raikkonen was one of the few who were unable to get out there during the session, with his Ferrari having more than 1 issue. Another driver who was out of the session for 40 minutes was Esteban Gutierrez, who had his Chassis replaced after Bahrain, but was now facing Clutch issues. He did however get to do a few laps at the end of the session. As for Sergio Perez, he was having problems with the rear brakes locking up, early in the session and by the end of it, he ended up with DRS and Technical issues, which had him heading back into the pits. The car should be ready by Free Practice 2. 

Lewis Hamilton also had an unlucky later half of the session, when he headed back into his garage and they covered it up. Supposedly they had the whole floor of the car off and are still working on it. His team-mate, was having troubles with his brakes locking up as well.

All-In-All, not a very action-packed session, but we'll probably see more laps being completed in FP2. Fastest of the Session was Fernando Alonso, while ironically, his team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen did not even set a time.

Here is the full list of times:

TIMES:

1. Fernando Alonso - 1:39.783 / Ferrari
2. Nico Rosberg - 1:40.181 / Mercedes
3. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:40.772 / Redbull
4. Jenson Button - 1:40.970 / McLaren
5. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:41.175 / Force India
6. Kevin Magnussen - 1:41.366 / McLaren
7. Jean-Eric Vergne - 1:41.505 / Toro Rosso
8. Lewis Hamilton - 1:41.560 / Mercedes
9. Sebastian Vettel - 1:41.629 / Redbull
10. Felipe Massa - 1:41.699 / Williams
11. Daniil Kvyat - 1:41.977 / Toro Rosso
12. Romain Grosjean - 1:42.090 / Lotus
13. Felipe Nasr - 1:42.265 / Williams
14. Giedo Van Der Garde - 1:42.615 / Sauber
15. Sergio Perez - 1:42.733 / Force India 
16. Pastor Maldonado - 1:43.731 / Lotus
17. Kamui Kobayashi - 1:44.038 / Caterham
18. Esteban Gutierrez - 1:44.162 / Sauber
19. Jules Bianchi - 1:44.270 / Marussia
20. Max Chilton - 1:44.782 / Marussia
21. Marcus Ericssson - 1:44.836 / Caterham
22. Kimi Raikkonen - NO TIME SET / Ferrari

Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
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