'Better show tomorrow,' promises McLaren's Boullier

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McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne completed only nine laps between them on Friday, but for once it wasn't an issue with the MCL32 that kept them in the garage.

Poor visibility grounded the medical helicopter and red flagged Friday practice after only 20 minutes of track time.

"Well, what can I say?" said racing director Eric Boullier. "In FP1 Fernando drove five laps, and Stoffel four. In FP2 no-one drove any laps at all, and the session was aborted even before it was due to end.

"That was the correct decision, disappointing as it must have been for the small number of spectators who had braved the rain and mist.

"You can’t race if the available vision is too poor to allow a helicopter to be deployed safely. That’s an absolute, because the safety of our drivers is paramount.

"However, we know we’re in the entertainment business," he added. "We all hope to be able to put on a better show tomorrow with plenty of on-track action. The weather is forecast to be rather better.”

China FP2 session abandoned over visibility concerns

"It’s good to see the fans in the grandstands and how much they enjoy Formula 1," Alonso contributed. "But it’s a shame that we didn’t put any laps in for them in FP2, and very few in FP1.

"Hopefully we can give them a good show tomorrow and Sunday," he echoed.

"It wasn’t a very exciting day for any of us," added Vandoorne. "Nobody wants to wait in the car or hang about in the garage.

"There will be a lot for me to catch up with tomorrow," he conceded. "It’s the first time I’ve driven here, so catching up will be one of our key tasks tomorrow. We’ll try to make the most of it.

"We have some new bits on the car and we would’ve preferred to spend more time on track to evaluate them. But it’s the same for everyone, after all."

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.