Lewis Hamilton was the fastest man in the first practice session for the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix. The defending world champion led team-mate Nico Rosberg and the Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. It was important session to figure out whether Ferrari were still in the hunt with Mercedes and if they could beat them on pace once again.
Mercedes led the way as expected with Hamilton having a comfortable margin over Rosberg. Both drivers had a relatively smooth session with minor offs on the ‘green’ circuit.
Ferrari were best of the rest behind the silver arrows with Vettel heading 2007 champion Raikkonen. Both drivers struggled under braking into turn 14 with lock ups but finished third and fourth, albeit a minimum of 1.1 seconds behind the Mercedes duo.
Both Manor’s made it out onto the circuit at the same time for the first time this season after speculation that the team could not run both cars at the same time. Both Will Stevens and Roberto Mehri finished 19th and 20th respectively.
Williams, looking to bounce back from a disappointing opening two races had a quiet opening session before a spin from Felipe Massa at the hairpin at turn 14, reporting the issue as rear locking. The Brazilian finished 10th overall and team-mate Valtteri Bottas in 9th.
Jolyon Palmer made his free practice debut in Shanghai with Lotus. The reigning GP2 champion had an early off when he lost the rear of his Lotus at turn nine but recovered to finish in a respectable 15th place. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado had a stronger session finishing in 11th place.
Amidst quit threats, Red Bull look to have found slightly more pace after Renault vowed to produce more power from their power units for this weekend. Daniel Ricciardo just edged out Daniil Kvyat with both drivers in 6th and 7th.
McLaren once again continued to show signs of improvement with both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso getting seemingly more pace from their so-far troublesome Honda power unit. Button finished the session in 13th with Alonso down in 17th.
Sauber were looking competitive in the hands of Felipe Nasr finishing the session in 5th overall. The other Sauber of Marcus Ericsson was not looking as quick, down in 14th.
Force India had another disappointing session with the team once again looking to be battling towards the tail end of the field with Nico Hulkenberg in 18th and Sergio Perez in 16th.
Toro Rosso were impressive yet again with both rookie drivers in the top 12 of the field. Carlos Sainz Jr. had a minor spin at turn one but continued to finish in 8th overall with team-mate Max Verstappen in 12th.
Image Courtesy Of Mercedes F1 Team
