Hamilton leads first free practice in Shanghai

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Lewis Hamilton comfortably led the field in Friday's first free practice session for this weekend's China Grand Prix.

Hamilton clocked in with a time of 1m33.999 which was 0.59s faster than Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, while the reigning world champion's Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas was 0.458s adrift.

Chinese Grand Prix - Free Practice 1

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:33.999s		22
2	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:34.358s	+ 0.359s	14
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:34.457s	+ 0.458s	28
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:34.537s	+ 0.538s	22
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:34.668s	+ 0.669s	22
6	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:34.861s	+ 0.862s	18
7	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:35.178s	+ 1.179s	21
8	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:35.616s	+ 1.617s	23
9	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:35.718s	+ 1.719s	21
10	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:35.800s	+ 1.801s	18
11	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:36.037s	+ 2.038s	21
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:36.044s	+ 2.045s	29
13	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:36.051s	+ 2.052s	28
14	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:36.351s	+ 2.352s	32
15	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1:36.691s	+ 2.692s	31
16	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:36.715s	+ 2.716s	23
17	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1:36.723s	+ 2.724s	23
18	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:36.756s	+ 2.757s	25
19	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:36.909s	+ 2.910s	21
20	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:37.277s	+ 3.278s	28

Drivers kicked off their first session in Shanghai under an overcast sky and with a strong chance of rain but fortunately the elements stayed away for the duration of FP1.

Mercedes took the opportunity to put to the test different rear wings specs. With the exception of an inconsequential spin for Hamilton at Turn 10, the session ran smoothly for the Silver Arrows outfit, and the four-time world champion in particular.

Hamilton and Bottas ran for 90 minutes exclusively on Pirelli's soft compound, while Ferrari's Raikkonen set his fastest time on the purple ultrasoft rubber.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were fourth and fifth in the session, the Dutchman clocking in 0.131s behind his teammate.

Sebastian Vettel was 0.862s off the leader's pace as he worked through his various set-up programmes.

Haas once again put in a good showing as 'best of the rest' with Kevin Magnussen clocking in P7, edging out Renault's Carlos Sainz, team mate Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg who rounded off the top ten.

Toro Rosso was once again faster than McLaren, with Pierre Gasly just edging out Fernando Alonso, while Stoffel Vandoorne concluded the morning P19 after a spin in the closing stages of the session.

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Michael Delaney