Sainz: 'Friday was like being back at home watching on TV'

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Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz admitted that Friday's thwarted practice sessions had been as thrilling as watching from his sofa back home.

There was only 20 minutes of on-track activity in the morning before the sessions were suspended due to poor visibility affecting the medical helicopter.

"We spent most of the time in the garage today," Sainz sighed.

"In this morning's FP1 we managed to at least do an install lap and check the car, making sure everything was working well. In FP2 we unfortunately didn't complete any laps

"I spent an hour and a half in my seat, watching the session on TV," he added. "It was like sitting on the sofa at home – at least I confirm I'm very comfortable when I sit in the cockpit!"

The loss of track time means that the pressure will be on the teams and drivers in final practice on Saturday.

"Tomorrow's FP3 will definitely be a tough and intensive session," Sainz acknowledged. "There's now a lot to learn in a little amount of time, but it's the same for everyone."

China FP2 session abandoned over visibility concerns

"It's a real pity that we were only able to complete a few laps in the morning and none in the afternoon," added his team mate Daniil Kvyat.

"Surprisingly, we were still able to get some interesting information.

"Tomorrow, if it's dry, we need to be very alert, try to have a clean programme and complete as many laps as possible.

"The forecast for the rest of the weekend is quite unstable, so we will see what happens. It could be an interesting race!"

GALLERY: All the pictures from Friday in Shanghai

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.