Rosberg tops mixed up first practice

F1 Grand Prix, GP China, Shanghai International Ciruit

Nico Rosberg topped the timesheet at the end of first practice, going marginally faster tha his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton. The 90 minute session was however interrupted twice due to red flag situations.

Ferrari were once again the closest challengers to the Mercedes, even though the latter seemed not to have their usual trouble free session. Hamilton notably spun twice while Nico Rosberg ended the session with an apparent power unit problem. This came on top of Mercedes finding a gearbox issue on Hamilton's car, requiring them to change gearboxes and accept a 5-place grid penalty for him on Sunday.

Little more than 25 minutes into the session, Felipe Massa caused the first red flag after he spun off due to a left rear puncture. He returned to the track later on, only to suffer another left rear puncture. Pirelli later said both problems were caused by technical issues.

Kevin Magnussen followed up with another left rear puncture. Pirelli is still investigating that issue.

Along with Felipe Massa and Magnussen, Esteban Gutierrez was the only other driver who failed to set a lap time this session. The Haas driver was stuck in the garage after the team found an electrical issue on his car on only he second lap out on track.