George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were comfortably the fastest drivers in the only practice session of Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix.
The Shanghai round is the first sprint event of the season, so Friday morning’s practice session will be followed by sprint qualifying.
Russell set the pace as the entire field ran medium tyres early on, lapping in 1m34.169s. He led Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in 1m34.409s, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in 1m34.550s, Mercedes team-mate Antonelli in 1m34.794s and Haas’ Oliver Bearman in 1m34.950s; no one else went faster than 1m35.5s.
Lewis Hamilton then set a 1m34.377s in a seven-lap run as the only frontrunner to use the soft compound before the final 15 minutes, which were dedicated to preparing for the sprint qualifying session.
Mercedes’ dominance seemingly emerged then, with Russell in 1m32.741s and Antonelli in 1m32.861s. The Silver Arrows outpaced their rivals by over half a second, with Lando Norris closest in 1m33.296s. The Briton was followed by Piastri and Leclerc, with Hamilton was some way off in 1m34.129s.
This was a low-key session for Red Bull with Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar down in eighth and 13th respectively, the Dutchman 1.8s off the pace. Despite a late spin in Turn 4, seventh-placed Bearman led the midfield by two tenths from Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson a further tenth away.
Williams was noticeably slower than its midfield rivals and led Aston Martin by four tenths, but the green cars set their quickest laps on mediums. Cadillac was a further two tenths adrift, with Valtteri Bottas 3.3s down on Russell.
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
A number of incidents occurred from the get-go, as Franco Colapinto spun at Turn 9 on his out-lap; later in the session, his car stopped in the pitlane when coming in, but got going again just as his mechanics arrived on the scene.
Norris and Hamilton nearly collided in the last corner as a slow Hamilton prepared to launch his lap and the McLaren driver attempted to pass him. His Ferrari counterpart then lost control at the Turn 6 braking, spinning out as his ‘rotisserie’ rear wing closed. “Brakes locked up,” he summarised on the radio.
Fewer than 15 minutes into practice, Arvid Lindblad pulled off with a technical issue at the exit of the Turn 14 hairpin and was unable to rejoin the session.
Having been unable to take part in Australian GP qualifying due to a technical problem, Carlos Sainz stayed in the garage for the first 35 minutes of the session because of a data issue – meaning, like Lindblad, the Williams driver goes into sprint qualifying on the backfoot.
At least Sainz was able to trial the soft tyre, unlike Lindblad and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, who spent the latter part of the session in the garage.
Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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