Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg set the pace in opening practice at the Shanghai International Circuit in China ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg, who has won the last five F1 races, limped home at the end of the session after an engine related issue forced him to coast back to the pits.
The opening practice session of this weekend was stopped on two separate occasions after Williams’ Felipe Massa suffered two punctures whilst Renault’s Kevin Magnussen suffered rear suspension damage.
Massa brought out the first red flag after 25 minutes following a spin at Turn 6. The Brazilian suffered the same issue when he was sent back out on the circuit but it was Magnussen who caused the second red flag of the session – appearing to have severe rear suspension damage leaving a significant amount of debris out on the track.
Due to the lengthy red flag stoppages, lap times are meaningless due to the lack of running but with seven minutes remaining, all of the teams except Williams and the Renault of Magnussen sent their cars out.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was best of the rest in third ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.
Both Williams and Renault will be hoping to solve their respective issues before FP2 which gets underway at 0700 BST.
