FP1: Vettel ahead as 1000th Grand Prix weekend starts in China

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F1 Grand Prix, GP China, Shanghai International Ciruitcn

Sebastian Vettel did the best he could to forget a troubled Bahrain GP weekend behind him by topping the first practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The Ferrari driver topped Lewis Hamilton by two tenths as Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari followed closely in third. Bottas ended up 5th fastest, allowing only Verstappen to mix in between the Ferrari-Mercedes pack of cars.

As Verstappen was the fastest Red Bull, his team mate Pierre Gasly ended up in 7th, even though that is more than a full second slower than his Dutch team mate.

Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a positive start to his race weekend. He went 6th fastest with his Renault R.S.19, thereby outpacing team mate Hulkenberg by 3 tenths. These tenths matter quite a lot in such a tight midfield pack though, as that meant Hulkenberg's best was just 12th fastest.

At the back of the pack, Williams were again slowest, and ahead only of Giovinazzi as the Italian endured a power loss issue on his Alfa Romeo C38 on his installation lap. Once back into the garage, it was clear the car had to be taken apart to resolve the matter, forcing Giovinazzi to sit out the rest of the session.

Results

Pos.No.DriverCarTimeGapLaps
15Sebastian VettelFerrari1:33.911-19
244Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:34.118+0.207s21
316Charles LeclercFerrari1:34.167+0.256s21
433Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda1:34.334+0.423s20
577Valtteri BottasMercedes1:34.653+0.742s23
63Daniel RicciardoRenault1:35.239+1.328s23
710Pierre GaslyRed Bull Racing Honda1:35.428+1.517s23
826Daniil KvyatScuderia Toro Rosso Honda1:35.447+1.536s24
918Lance StrollRacing Point Bwt Mercedes1:35.466+1.555s25
108Romain GrosjeanHaas Ferrari1:35.507+1.596s24
1120Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari1:35.517+1.606s25
1227Nico HulkenbergRenault1:35.591+1.680s22
134Lando NorrisMcLaren Renault1:35.631+1.720s24
1423Alexander AlbonScuderia Toro Rosso Honda1:35.695+1.784s26
157Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari1:35.729+1.818s23
1655Carlos SainzMcLaren Renault1:35.756+1.845s24
1711Sergio PerezRacing Point Bwt Mercedes1:35.820+1.909s24
1888Robert KubicaWilliams Mercedes1:36.847+2.936s27
1963George RussellWilliams Mercedes1:37.619+3.708s29
2099Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo Racing Ferrari--2