| 09:51:01
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the first practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend. As ever, Friday running consists of two 90-minute free practice sessions, the first of which gets underway in a few minutes. |
| 09:52:41
| Real news – Magny Cours aside - has been thin on the ground in the short break since the Japanese Grand Prix. Various people had varying views on three penalties handed out at Fuji Speedway but today the clock is reset with Lewis Hamilton leading the championship by five points from Felipe Massa while Ferrari leads McLaren in the constructors’ championship by seven points. |
| 09:54:51
| The 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit is a hard event on tyres and Bridgestone has therefore brought the two harder tyres in its range – the prime ‘Hard’ tyre and the option ‘Medium’ tyre. Both will run today with the drivers assessing the performance and wear rate of the two compounds. |
| 09:56:33
| There are no restrictions on either engines or gearboxes in the Friday running. Any failure does not result in a grid position penalty. Race engines and gearboxes are only fitted overnight for day two of the action. |
| 09:58:33
| Rubens Barrichello won the first race at this circuit in 2004 followed by Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and last year Kimi Raikkonen. |
| 10:00:15
| The first practice session is now underway. Most, if not all, will complete an installation lap and then pit for checks. |
| 10:00:58
| Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil are first out for Force India. Bourdais, Hamilton, Piquet and Heidfeld follow out. |
| 10:01:37
| Nakajima, Alonso, Coulthard and others head out for an installation lap. |
| 10:03:10
| The early runners are now returning to the pits. |
| 10:03:54
| Webber, Trulli, Kovalainen, Button on track. |
| 10:04:09
| Button has started a second lap in his Honda. |
| 10:04:42
| Nakajima and Rosberg are on a second lap for Williams. |
| 10:05:10
| Button pits without setting a time. |
| 10:06:38
| The Williams duo return to the pits. Barrichello heads out for his installation lap. |
| 10:08:11
| Barrichello starts a second lap. No-one had set a time as yet. |
| 10:08:35
| Massa and Raikkonen have not been out yet. The rest have all completed an installation lap. |
| 10:09:51
| Barrichello pits. No-one on track. |
| 10:13:59
| There is a lull in activity and there are few fans in the grandstands. |
| 10:18:06
| Sebastien Bourdais heads back out in his Toro Rosso Ferrari. |
| 10:19:49
| Bourdais is now on his first timed lap of the session. |
| 10:20:31
| Bourdais of course is fighting for his F1 career as he does not have a ride for 2009 as it stands. |
| 10:21:25
| Bourdais' first lap is a 1:39.5. No-one else on track at the moment. |
| 10:22:00
| Piquet heads out in the ever-improving Renault. |
| 10:23:12
| Kimi Raikkonen is in his car and waiting to go out. |
| 10:23:53
| Piquet is now on his first timed lap. |
| 10:24:32
| Nico Rosberg and Timo Glock head out. |
| 10:25:02
| Bourdais improves his own best time by half a second. |
| 10:25:40
| Piquet's first lap is almost three seconds off Bourdais' best at the moment. |
| 10:25:53
| Jarno Trulli heads out. |
| 10:28:10
| Rosberg moves second fastest ahead of Piquet with Glock slotting into fourth. |
| 10:29:38
| Bourdais remains on track on a long first stint. They all seems to be on the hard tyre at the moment and thankfully the green markings have gone this weekend. |
| 10:29:53
| Barrichello and Button head out. |
| 10:30:34
| Piquet moves second fastest behind Bourdais and ahead of Rosberg, Glock and Trulli. |
| 10:30:47
| Raikkonen and Webber head out. |
| 10:33:12
| Bourdais has pitted and remains fastest. Webber is now up to third ahead of Button, Glock, Barrichello, Trulli and Rosberg. |
| 10:33:25
| Vettel and Kovalainen head out. |
| 10:33:42
| Raikkonen moves second fastest. |
| 10:35:26
| Raikkonen moves fastest on a 1:36.6 and then spins at the first turn. |
| 10:36:03
| Raikkonen gets back on track and continues. |
| 10:36:37
| There is now a lot of activity with every driver on track except Bourdais and Rosberg. |
| 10:37:29
| Trulli runs off track at turn one and continues. |
| 10:38:12
| Vettel moves fourth in his Toro Rosso ahead of Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber. |
| 10:38:36
| Kovalainen moves second fastest. Massa, Hamilton and Kubica on their first laps now. |
| 10:39:01
| Hamilton moves fourth fastest. |
| 10:39:22
| Massa's first lap is a low one. He is 20th and slowest at the moment. |
| 10:40:22
| Kovalainen takes over at the top. He is now fastest from Raikkonen, Bourdais and Alonso. |
| 10:40:43
| Now Massa vaults to the top and is fastest on a 1:36.4. |
| 10:41:25
| Bourdais' early run was impressive as he remains fourth fastest as he heads out for his second stint. |
| 10:41:59
| Hamilton runs wide as he joins the baclk straight. |
| 10:42:22
| Hamilton remains P6 with that effort. |
| 10:42:53
| Raikkonen is now fastest ahead of Massa, Kovalainen, Alonso, Bourdais, Hamilton. |
| 10:43:36
| The times continue to fall as Kovalainen is now fastest and Hamilton is on a better lap. |
| 10:44:03
| Hamilton is now fastest by a fraction from Kovalainen and Raikkonen. |
| 10:45:01
| Nakajima is the slowest runner at the moment in the Williams. |
| 10:47:22
| Massa improves and is now fastest as Hamilton joins Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Alonso in the pits. |
| 10:48:43
| Kubica is currently sixth and working his way up the order. |
| 10:50:29
| Most are now back in the pits. Kubica, Bourdais, Webber, Piquet, Rosberg and Nakajima on track. |
| 10:52:21
| Piquet improves and splits the Toro Rosso duo in P8. |
| 10:53:17
| Alonso heads out for a second stint. They have all so far lapped on the hard tyre. |
| 10:54:57
| A small gain from Nakajima as he moves 18th ahead of the Force India duo. |
| 10:56:58
| Jarno Trulli is off! |
| 10:57:36
| Trulli 17th seems to have spun at turn 11. |
| 10:58:16
| The Italian veteran has found reverse and is now back underway. |
| 10:58:36
| Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso, Kovalainen back out. |
| 10:59:33
| Hamilton heads back out. |
| 11:01:59
| Just under 30 minutes remain and the circuit is busy again. Massa remains fastest from Hamilton, Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Kubica. |
| 11:02:24
| They must all be on the same set of hard tyre at the moment as there are no real gains at the moment. |
| 11:03:01
| In saying that, Hamilton does find time and is now fastest. |
| 11:04:34
| Raikkonen is on a hot lap. |
| 11:05:28
| A gain for Raikkonen as he moves third fastest. |
| 11:05:52
| Bourdais runs off track and then rejoins. |
| 11:06:19
| Hamilton improves his own best time and is now nearly two-tenths clear of Massa. |
| 11:08:56
| Both Hamilton and Massa on hot laps. |
| 11:09:47
| Hamilton picks up two-tenths on his own best time and is now four-tenths clear of Raikkonen. |
| 11:11:45
| Bourdais is eighth at the moment and is back on track in his Toro Rosso. |
| 11:13:05
| Barrichello takes to the grass at turn 14 and then rejoins. |
| 11:13:47
| Most have pitted. Heidfeld, Bourdais, Piquet, Button, Barrichello, Trulli and Nakajima on track. |
| 11:18:30
| Nick Heidfeld is now up to seventh in the second BMW Sauber. |
| 11:19:28
| The BMW driver then takes too much kerbing at turn 14 on the next lap and loses time. |
| 11:20:46
| Heidfeld now pits. Team-mate Kubica is on track with Alonso, Massa, Vettel, Webber, Button... |
| 11:21:22
| Piquet does a Hamilton entering the pits. Luckily he had the momentum to escape the gravel trap and return to the pit. |
| 11:22:57
| Most of the front-runners are back out with seven minutes remaining. |
| 11:25:37
| No gains at the moment. Five minutes remain. |
| 11:26:29
| All but Button and Heidfeld on track at the moment. Hamilton remains fastest from Massam Raikkonen and Kovalainen. |
| 11:27:21
| Massa and Hamilton run together on track. Now the McLaren driver backs off to get some free space. |
| 11:27:40
| Fisichella runs off track and then rejoins. |
| 11:28:44
| Webber pits from 11th. The others are now all on track with less than two minutes remaining. |
| 11:29:15
| Massa's last lap was two-tenths off his own best as Hamilton locks his rear brakes at turn 11 and runs wide. |
| 11:30:10
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 11:30:40
| Nakajima moves 16th as Kubica runs wide at the first turn and takes to the grass. |
| 11:31:29
| Glock moves 15th with a better lap in his Toyota. |
| 11:32:24
| So Hamilton is fastest in the first free practice session with a best lap of 1:35.6 from Massa, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Kubica, Alonso, Heidfeld, Bourdais, Piquet and Vettel. |
