Mercedes responded to their Malaysian Grand Prix defeat by heading the first practice session at Shanghai in emphatic fashion.
Lewis Hamilton’s best time was a second-and-a-half faster than any of the teams’ rivals could manage for most of the session. Only a late effort by Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari cut their margin – and he was still more than a second off Hamilton.
The other Mercedes of Nico Rosberg couldn’t get within half a second of his team mate either. Both Mercedes drivers had brief off-track moments during the session. Hamilton aborted an early fast run after going off at the turn 14 hairpin, and later went wide in the high-speed turn one. Rosberg, meanwhile, explored the run-off at turn six after a brief lock-up on the brakes.
The Ferrari drivers ended the session third and fourth fastest, followed by the Ferrari-powered Sauber of Felipe Nasr.
Three of the Renault-powered runners came next, including Carlos Sainz Jnr who complained of a top speed deficit in his Toro Rosso on Shanghai’s long back straight.
The Williams pair completed the top ten, Valtteri Bottas a tenth of a second ahead of Felipe Massa, who spun his Williams at turn 14 late in the session.
Jolyon Palmer was the only test driver to take part in the session, driving Romain Grosjean’s Lotus. He ended up six-tenths of a second off team mate Pastor Maldonado’s pace after spinning at turn nine shortly after practice began.
Both Manor drivers ran during practice but were over three seconds off the next-slowest cars.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’39.033 | 21 | |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’39.574 | 0.541 | 21 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’40.157 | 1.124 | 18 |
| 4 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’40.661 | 1.628 | 27 |
| 5 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.012 | 1.979 | 18 |
| 6 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’41.029 | 1.996 | 21 |
| 7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull-Renault | 1’41.097 | 2.064 | 24 |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’41.112 | 2.079 | 23 |
| 9 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.303 | 2.270 | 23 |
| 10 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.304 | 2.271 | 17 |
| 11 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’41.335 | 2.302 | 23 |
| 12 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’41.575 | 2.542 | 28 |
| 13 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Honda | 1’41.845 | 2.812 | 19 |
| 14 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’41.918 | 2.885 | 24 |
| 15 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus-Mercedes | 1’41.967 | 2.934 | 25 |
| 16 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’42.141 | 3.108 | 22 |
| 17 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’42.161 | 3.128 | 20 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’42.184 | 3.151 | 19 |
| 19 | 28 | Will Stevens | Manor-Ferrari | 1’45.379 | 6.346 | 18 |
| 20 | 98 | Roberto Merhi | Manor-Ferrari | 1’46.443 | 7.410 | 20 |
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dan
10th April 2015, 4:42
Thank god Hamilton found his groove over a lap(he as looked way quicker than Nico this year), 2 Rosbergs and the Ferrari would be much closer. I find it rather embarassing how it seems to be Nico always the one under threat to be beaten and not Lewis same was last year even with Nico’s superiour speed.
iFelix (@ifelix)
10th April 2015, 4:42
Normal service has been resumed as suspected :(
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
10th April 2015, 4:43
I think it’s great news for Ferrari that they’re third and fourth. I know it’s only first practice, but this weekend might be a giant step forward for them to finish in the top two in the WCC.
Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
10th April 2015, 4:48
Not a great start to the weekend from Rosberg. He needed to come out all guns blazing. Who knows though, its still only the first practice.
Eduardo Holanda
10th April 2015, 4:50
Felipe Nasr P5. Very impresive result!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
10th April 2015, 4:51
I don’t know what are the Sky and F1fanatic seeing in this P1 results. I saw 2 well poised Ferrari’s and 2 quick twitchy Merc’s. 1.1 sec’s on old tyres on an high degradation track and after a couple laps of fuel is a good sign. I think the 2nd sign is how close the Ferrari and Sauber were, this usually means that there’s more pace on the Ferrari, not to mention that the new Scuderia Ferrari doesn’t run light in practice no more.
dan
10th April 2015, 4:57
Ham could have went quicker too he would have done a better lap but for the lockup
Edgar
10th April 2015, 5:38
Nasr 5th fastest. Yeah, sure.
Hold your horses.
evered7 (@evered7)
10th April 2015, 5:45
@peartree I didn’t watch FP1 but you sure have a point about Nasr being too close to Ferrari on pace difference. Surely Ferrari have not revealed all their cards yet but same could be said for Mercedes as well.
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
10th April 2015, 6:01
@peartree @evered7
Kimi and Hamilton were doing long runs late in the session. Kimi did some 16laps while Hamilton did 11 laps(out lap-in lap included) and Hamilton was on average 4 tenths faster than Kimi.
I am still bit confused as to where to put Ferrari as in, can they again challenge for the win?
I feel they will be close but not close enough to win.
@HoHum (@hohum)
10th April 2015, 6:34
Yes, Sauber are fast, at least on the straights and accellerating, there is nothing much wrong with the 015 Ferrari PU.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
10th April 2015, 22:07
@evered7 @tdog @woodyd91 You were laughing at me, what about now? It’s undeniable there’s a race between Mercedes and Ferrari.
Woody (@woodyd91)
10th April 2015, 22:18
Stay calm, nobody is laughing at you, although given when you made your comment there was no data to support your comment only personal opinion they could.
evered7 (@evered7)
10th April 2015, 22:18
@peartree Care to show where I was laughing at you? I said you had a point about Sauber’s pace being too close to Ferrari’s meaning Ferrari haven’t fully revealed their cards.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
10th April 2015, 22:23
@evered7 Sorry added one name tag too many.
evered7 (@evered7)
10th April 2015, 22:39
@peartree OK, got it :)
Tyler (@tdog)
10th April 2015, 4:56
The stopwatch perhaps?
Tyler (@tdog)
10th April 2015, 4:56
@peartree
Woody (@woodyd91)
10th April 2015, 4:58
Sure worth an LOL.
evered7 (@evered7)
10th April 2015, 4:58
Kimi did 27 laps? Iceman determined to make amends for a poor start to the season? I will not be too worried about the 1.1 sec gap. There doesn’t seem a third team to fight for the top4 places. Hence Ferrari can fully concentrate on race pace/tire deg to close the gap on Sunday.
Can’t wait for FP2 to make matters a little more clear to the eyes.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
10th April 2015, 5:55
@evered7 Williams usually always run heavy for most of practice.
Mayank (@mjf1fan)
10th April 2015, 6:04
@fastiesty – Yes, you are right about Williams running bit heavy in practice, but I think Mercedes and Ferrari have cemented their place for top two and then there is close battle for third between Williams and RedBull.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
10th April 2015, 6:09
@mjf1fan Yes, I think you are right there. Then Toro Rosso and Sauber/Lotus behind them? McLaren/Force India and then Manor… for whom the 2015 Ferrari engines can’t come quickly enough.
evered7 (@evered7)
10th April 2015, 6:30
@fastiesty I know it was true last year but their race pace in FP2 was always highlighting the advantage they had over other teams bar Mercedes. This season though I don’t think they have enough to challenge Ferrari especially with Ferrari PU matching top speeds with them. Ferrari will have a better chassis than Williams to make use of the improved PU.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
10th April 2015, 16:03
@evered7 Yep, I think you’re right. Hence the development push, new rear suspension parts etc.
@HoHum (@hohum)
10th April 2015, 6:47
Bottas wipes the floor with Massa, take that Felipe!
I might be wrong but Manor look to be within 107% and presumably they had 2 cars running?
zippyone (@zippyone)
10th April 2015, 12:04
@hohum Haha, yeah that’s pretty cool, I remember they have had nearly identical times before in a quali session I think but can’t remember which.
Todfod (@todfod)
10th April 2015, 6:52
I know it’s just FP1, but all the Mercedes powered customer teams don’t seem to showcasing the engine advantage at this track. The Williams look slower than the Red Bull Renault, the Force India’s are battling Mclaren Hondas, and Sauber Ferrari looks pretty decent as well
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
10th April 2015, 7:53
Anyone know if both Manor cars were on track at the same time?
Sonics (@sonicslv)
10th April 2015, 8:03
I know it’s still FP1 but it’s nice to see McLaren is on the same level as the midfields. I hope the progress is real and not like Ferrari last year :). On the other hand this is bad news for Force India, who seems destined to always lose to McLaren at the end of the year no matter how bad the McLarens are.
John H (@john-h)
10th April 2015, 8:03
I know this is going to sound mad, but I still believe McLaren will win a race towards the end of the season. Their pace now should see them amongst the midfield at least.
If they can keep on extracting more and more performance from the engine and with Alonso at the wheel they will stand a chance as the aero doesn’t appear too bad.
Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
10th April 2015, 8:14
Another non-start for stevens? damn
Philip (@philipgb)
10th April 2015, 8:16
McLaren are almost competitive!