F1 Chinese GP: Mercedes on top ahead of sprint…

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

FP1

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	28	1'32.741		S	211.595
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	29	+0.120 1'32.861	0.120	S	211.322
3	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	29	+0.555 1'33.296	0.435	S	210.336
4	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	28	+0.731 1'33.472	0.176	S	209.940
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+0.858 1'33.599	0.127	S	209.656
6	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	26	+1.388 1'34.129	0.530	S	208.475
7	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	28	+1.685 1'34.426	0.297	S	207.819
8	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	24	+1.800 1'34.541	0.115	S	207.567
9	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	27	+1.898 1'34.639	0.098	S	207.352
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	28	+1.935 1'34.676	0.037	S	207.271
11	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	29	+2.032 1'34.773	0.097	S	207.058
12	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	26	+2.087 1'34.828	0.055	S	206.938
13	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	26	+2.115 1'34.856	0.028	S	206.877
14	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	25	+2.136 1'34.877	0.021	S	206.832
15	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	26	+2.206 1'34.947	0.070	S	206.679
16	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	30	+2.739 1'35.480	0.533	S	205.525
17	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	18	+2.938 1'35.679	0.199	S	205.098
18	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	18	+3.115 1'35.856	0.177	M	204.719
19	V. Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	25	+3.316 1'36.057	0.201	S	204.291
20	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	20	+4.483 1'37.224	1.167	M	201.839
21	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	6	+5.155 1'37.896	0.672	M	200.453
22	S. Perez Cadillac-Ferrari	11	Cadillac	Ferrari	13	+6.459 1'39.200	1.304	M	197.818
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