Rosberg quickest as tyre failures disrupt practice

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in the first practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix. However proceedings were overshadowed by a series of tyre failures which caused two stoppages.

The running was stopped for over a quarter of an hour after Felipe Massa suffered his second left-rear tyre failure in four laps and Kevin Magnussen experienced a similar-looking fault. Marshals were sent out to clean the track during the interruption but experienced difficulties with the equipment they were using, including a large net attached the the rear of a road car.

The session eventually resumed for a final eight minutes of running during which most drivers took the opportunity to improve their times. Rosberg posted the fastest with a 1’38.037, but shortly afterwards was told to back off and return to the pits with a suspected “engine issue”.

Lewis Hamilton lapped just over a tenth of a second off his team mate’s pace while Sebastian Vettel was a further half-second behind in his Ferrari. All three used soft tyres to set their quickest times.

Hamilton had a troubled start to the session as he twice spun his Mercedes at the same corner. “Something’s up,” he told his team as he headed in, “I keep having this locking into turn 11”.

Neither Massa or Magnussen managed to set times before their punctures. Esteban Gutierrez also ended the session without a time on the board due to an electrical problem on his Haas, and shortly before the chequered flag Felipe Nasr was instructed to pit with a problem in his car’s water system.

The interruptions also limited the amount of running Fernando Alonso was able to complete. The McLaren driver has to pass a medical inspection to assess his fitness after the session but was only able to do 11 laps.

First practice visual gaps

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.