George Russell set the fastest time on Friday morning in the first free practice for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Mercedes Brit, who was the convincing winner of the F1 season opener in Melbourne last Sunday, had a trouble-free session in Shanghai. Max Verstappen finished FP1 in Shanghai with the eighth fastest time.
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From the very first seconds, it was busy on the track. The teams and drivers are keen to get the most out of the only free practice session in China by collecting as much data as possible and gaining a better understanding of the car’s performance and the new systems.
And there is plenty going on right away. Already in the opening minutes of FP1, Franco Colapinto spins his Alpine off the Chinese asphalt, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton get into it with each other, the latter also goes off with locking brakes, and Isack Hadjar loses his cool over the radio because he is suffering from traffic. The first retirement of the session is Arvid Lindblad, the Racing Bulls rookie. His engine gives up after just fifteen minutes, forcing him to park his car alongside the track (photo above).
Halfway through the session, the fastest time belongs to Mercedes driver George Russell. The Brit’s time – on mediums – is 1:34.169. Towards the end of the session, on softs, he improves to 1:32.807. This also puts him at the top of the timesheets, ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli, the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, respectively.
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Max Verstappen ultimately finishes with the eighth fastest time. He struggles, like most, with his tires, particularly the front left. No further significant incidents occur. The action was clearly concentrated at the start of FP1. The next session later today is the sprint qualifying, starting at 08:30 Dutch time.
Top-10: Russell, Antonelli, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Hamilton, Bearman, Verstappen, Hülkenberg, Gasly.
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Results
- PosDriverTeamNationalityTime
- George Russell
Mercedes
1:32.741 - Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
+ 0.120 - Lando Norris
McLaren
+ 0.555 - Oscar Piastri
McLaren
+ 0.731 - Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
+ 0.858 - Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
+ 1.388 - Oliver Bearman
Haas
+ 1.685 - Max Verstappen
Red Bull
+ 1.800 - Nico Hülkenberg
Audi
