2015 CHINESE GP: HAMILTON FASTEST, FERRARI SERIOUS RACE THREAT

Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace in practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver following up his fastest lap of the morning session with the best time of the afternoon. Hamilton posted a fastest lap on the soft Pirelli tyre to finish four-tenths of a second clear of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, with Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo third.

Nico Rosberg, meanwhile, finished fifth behind Sebastian Vettel, 1.1 seconds behind his Mercedes team-mate after making a mistake on his soft tyre run. However, while it was Hamilton who grabbed the lion’s share of the limelight with another dominant showing, it was Raikkonen who caught the eye. The Finn’s long-run pace was impressive and signalled that despite the advantage Mercedes enjoyed over the Scuderia in the qualifying sims, the champions may not have things all their own way in the race.

Rosberg’s slip allowed Daniel Ricciardo to step up and in a topsy turvy session for Red Bull, the Australian put a late entry to the session behind him to land the third fastest time of the session, a second behind Hamilton. It was a trickier session for team-mate Daniil Kvyat, however. The Russian was forced out of the session by brake problem that eventually saw him trundle off track and into the barriers with complete brake failure as he attempted a slow crawl back to the pits. He finished the day in sixth place, however. Valtteri Bottas took seventh place for Williams but it was a far more difficult afternoon for team-mate Felipe Massa.

A problem with the rear wing of his car saw the Brazilian lose control of his Williams under braking as he approached the turn 14 hairpin and he slid off track and damaged the front wing of the car. He played no further part in the session. Felipe Nasr was eighth fastest for Sauber ahead of Lotus’ Romain Grosjean. Jenson Button finished an excellent 10th for McLaren confirming the progress the team has made in recent weeks.

Another incident early in the session saw a spectator run across the main straight and cross into pit lane where he tried to enter the Ferrari garage. He was subsequently arrested by local police.

FREE PRACTICE 1

P	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:39.033		21
2.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:39.574	+ 0.541	21
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:40.157	+ 1.124	18
4.	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:40.661	+ 1.628	27
5.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:41.012	+ 1.979	18
6.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:41.029	+ 1.996	21
7.	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:41.097	+ 2.064	24
8.	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:41.112	+ 2.079	23
9.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:41.303	+ 2.270	23
10.	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:41.304	+ 2.271	17
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:41.335	+ 2.302	23
12.	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:41.575	+ 2.542	28
13.	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:41.845	+ 2.812	19
14.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:41.918	+ 2.885	24
15.	Jolyon Palmer	Lotus	1:41.967	+ 2.934	25
16.	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:42.141	+ 3.108	22
17.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:42.161	+ 3.128	20
18.	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:42.184	+ 3.151	19
19.	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:45.379	+ 6.346	18
20.	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:46.443	+ 7.410	20

FREE PRACTICE 2

P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	01:37.219		32
2.	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	01:37.662	+ 0.443	35
3.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	01:38.311	+ 1.092	24
4.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	01:38.339	+ 1.120	30
5.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	01:38.399	+ 1.180	35
6.	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	01:38.737	+ 1.518	10
7.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	01:38.850	+ 1.631	27
8.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	01:39.032	+ 1.813	26
9.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	01:39.142	+ 1.923	32
10.	Jenson Button	McLaren	01:39.275	+ 2.056	29
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	01:39.444	+ 2.225	30
12.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	01:39.743	+ 2.524	27
13.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	01:39.751	+ 2.532	33
14.	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	01:39.894	+ 2.675	32
15.	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	01:39.971	+ 2.752	28
16.	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	01:40.151	+ 2.932	28
17.	Felipe Massa	Williams	01:40.423	+ 3.204	7
18.	Sergio Perez	Force India	01:40.868	+ 3.649	24
19.	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	01:42.973	+ 5.754	27
20.	Will Stevens	Marussia	01:44.564	+ 7.345	8