Rosberg tops mixed up first practice

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F1 Grand Prix, GP China, Shanghai International Ciruitcn

Nico Rosberg topped the timesheet at the end of first practice, going marginally faster tha his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton. The 90 minute session was however interrupted twice due to red flag situations.

Ferrari were once again the closest challengers to the Mercedes, even though the latter seemed not to have their usual trouble free session. Hamilton notably spun twice while Nico Rosberg ended the session with an apparent power unit problem. This came on top of Mercedes finding a gearbox issue on Hamilton's car, requiring them to change gearboxes and accept a 5-place grid penalty for him on Sunday.

Little more than 25 minutes into the session, Felipe Massa caused the first red flag after he spun off due to a left rear puncture. He returned to the track later on, only to suffer another left rear puncture. Pirelli later said both problems were caused by technical issues.

Kevin Magnussen followed up with another left rear puncture. Pirelli is still investigating that issue.

Along with Felipe Massa and Magnussen, Esteban Gutierrez was the only other driver who failed to set a lap time this session. The Haas driver was stuck in the garage after the team found an electrical issue on his car on only he second lap out on track.

Results

..
Pos.No.DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
16Nico RosbergMercedes1:38.03716
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:38.183+0.146s16
35Sebastian VettelFerrari1:38.665+0.628s12
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing1:39.061+1.024s13
57Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:39.155+1.118s11
626Daniil KvyatRed Bull Racing1:39.625+1.588s14
755Carlos SainzToro Rosso1:39.676+1.639s12
822Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:39.974+1.937s11
927Nico HulkenbergForce India1:40.169+2.132s13
1033Max VerstappenToro Rosso1:40.232+2.195s13
1111Sergio PerezForce India1:40.347+2.310s15
1214Fernando AlonsoMcLaren1:40.538+2.501s11
1377Valtteri BottasWilliams1:40.828+2.791s10
148Romain GrosjeanHaas1:41.358+3.321s9
159Marcus EricssonSauber1:41.393+3.356s18
1688Rio HaryantoManor1:41.614+3.577s20
1730Jolyon PalmerRenault1:41.816+3.779s16
1894Pascal WehrleinManor1:42.908+4.871s14
1912Felipe NasrSauber1:42.980+4.943s8
2020Kevin MagnussenRenault--6
2121Esteban GutierrezHaas--2
2219Felipe MassaWilliams--4