Chinese Grand Prix Free Practice: Hamilton on Top as Raikkonen Impresses

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet in both free practice sessions on the  opening day of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix but it was Kimi Raikkonen's form which caught the eye as Ferrari continued their recent good form.

Having headed team-mate Nico Rosberg in morning practice, Hamilton led the way early in the afternoon on Pirelli's medium tyre before finding 1.8s when he switched to the soft option mid-way through the session.

That 1:37.219s lap was good enough for top spot by 0.443s from Raikkonen, who was first on the soft tyre and managed to improve his previous medium-tyre best by a whopping 2.5s, though he had complained of braking instability early in the session and Ferrari had changed brake discs and pads on the Finn's car.

Thereafter, his long run pace later in the session also impressed in the relatively cool conditions of the Shanghai circuit where Mercedes were expected to resume their dominance as Raikkonen consistently ran times faster than Hamilton's team-mate Nico Rosberg on medium tyres.

Rosberg ran second early in the session but ran wide on the exit of the final turn on his first run on soft tyres which meant he ended the day fifth fastest, 1.18s slower than his team-mate.

Raikkonen's best time was just under six tenths of a second faster than Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, the Malaysian Grand Prix winner surviving an early 360-degree pirouette at turn three to end the day fifth on the timesheets.

Third quickest on a mixed day for Red Bull was Daniel Ricciardo. Team-mate Daniil Kvyat was sixth but ended his day early with a brake failure while nursing his hobbled car back to the pits. Both Red Bulls had stayed in pit lane for the first half hour of the session.

Valtteri Bottas was seventh fastest and the quicker of the two Williams on a typically understated first day for the Grove outfit. Felipe Massa brought out the day's only red flag with a lurid moment when he locked his rear brakes at the end of the back straight, eventually nudging the barrier with his front wing forcing an early end to his running.

Felipe Nasr continued Sauber's good form with eighth fastest time, edging the best efforts of Romain Grosjean's Lotus with Jenson Button showing well for McLaren Honda in tenth. His team-mate Fernando Alonso also had a clean run to 12th just behind Pastor Maldonado's Lotus as McLaren continue to winch themselves closer to the pace.

After their recent highs, it was a relatively anonymous start to the weekend for Toro Rosso with Max Verstappen edging Carlos Sainz for 15th fastest by 0.077s.

Nico Hulkenberg ended his day early with what the Force India team described as "increased gearbox oil temperature" but he still headed Sergio Perez while at the back Roberto Merhi was the quicker of the two Manor F1s with Will Stevens forced to end the session early with an unspecified power unit problem.

The only other talking point was a heart in the mouth moment early in the session when a spectator ran across the main straight between Marcus Ericsson and Nico Hulkenberg before vaulting the pit wall and making his way into pit lane where he was soon apprehended and detained.

Chinese Grand Prix Free Practice Two

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m37.219s - 32

2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m37.662s 0.443s 35

3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m38.311s 1.092s 24

4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m38.339s 1.120s 30

5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.399s 1.180s 35

6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1m38.737s 1.518s 10

7 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m38.850s 1.631s 27

8 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1m39.032s 1.813s 26

9 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m39.142s 1.923s 32

10 Jenson Button McLaren 1m39.275s 2.056s 29

11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1m39.444s 2.225s 30

12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1m39.743s 2.524s 27

13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1m39.751s 2.532s 33

14 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1m39.894s 2.675s 32

15 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1m39.971s 2.752s 28

16 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m40.151s 2.932s 28

17 Felipe Massa Williams 1m40.423s 3.204s 7

18 Sergio Perez Force India 1m40.868s 3.649s 24

19 Roberto Merhi Marussia 1m42.973s 5.754s 27