The one and only Free Practice session in Shanghai is over, and it was a crucial one for all drivers. It was especially important for the rookies as they familiarised themselves with the track layout before sprint qualifying, while teams focused on collecting data to maximize every point.
As soon as the green light appeared, the cars headed out on track, with Bearman leading the pack after a challenging weekend in Australia and looking forward to gaining valuable laps.
The tyre choice was unanimous across all teams – mediums.
George Russell set an early benchmark with a time of 1:35.184, but as the track evolved, lap times continued to improve.
Many drivers struggled with the wind and the newly resurfaced track. Early on, Liam Lawson went into the gravel and reported something loose around his pedals, while the Red Bull team experimented with different nose configurations to find the best setup for the weekend. He wasn’t the only one. Alex Albon also ended up in the gravel, followed by Charles Leclerc later on in the session.
With a strong pace on the medium tyres and 30 minutes left in the session, drivers focused on the race runs. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli reported issues with his front left tyre. Due to the new asphalt and rising temperatures, tyre overheating could become a major problem throughout the weekend.
With 13 minutes remaining on the clock, Jack Doohan found himself with no power steering at Turn 10. He pulled off the track, bringing out the red flag, which led to the drivers returning to the pit lane to switch from medium to soft tyres.
The pit lane exit got busy as soon as the green flag got waved, with every driver eager to get a proper run on the soft compound. Stealing the fastest sectors from each other, Charles Leclerc emerged on top, followed closely by his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
However, with McLaren carrying momentum from last week, Lando Norris split the two Ferraris and, as the chequered flag waved, jumped into P1, while Oscar Piastri secured the third-fastest time.
Top 10
Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:31.504
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:31.958
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:32.153
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 1:32.195
George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:32.377
Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber) – 1:32.507
Alex Albon (Williams) – 1:32.687
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – 1:32.766
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 1:32.874
Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB) – 1:32.934
An eventful session, as always, raised some questions, but most importantly, gave the drivers a chance to prepare for the sprint qualifying later on.