McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has started his Chinese Grand Prix weekend well by topping the timesheets in the first practice session. The British driver was ahead of his closest championship rival Felipe Massa by just under 0.4 seconds. Raikkonen and Kovalainen rounded out the top four.
The session saw a few minor dramas. Raikkonen spin on his second quick lap of the session, but did no damage and was able to continue. Jarno Trulli and Mark Webber both had spins in the Turns 11 & 12 chicane mid-corner, however both were able to continue on undamaged. Barrichello also got the corners wrong and took a detour across the grass.
The Renault of Nelson Piquet took a trip through one of the gravel traps after an error, however he managed to keep the car going and return to the pits.
Unofficial Timings for Practice Session 1 of the Chinese Grand Prix:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.630 23 2. Massa Ferrari 1:36.020 + 0.390 24 3. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.052 + 0.422 23 4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.103 + 0.473 21 5. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:36.507 + 0.877 25 6. Alonso Renault 1:36.661 + 1.031 25 7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:37.040 + 1.410 23 8. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:37.070 + 1.440 32 9. Piquet Renault 1:37.180 + 1.550 30 10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:37.278 + 1.648 25 11. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:37.491 + 1.861 26 12. Button Honda 1:37.619 + 1.989 25 13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:37.630 + 2.000 23 14. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:37.638 + 2.008 22 15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:37.638 + 2.008 26 16. Glock Toyota 1:37.664 + 2.034 29 17. Barrichello Honda 1:37.827 + 2.197 28 18. Trulli Toyota 1:38.219 + 2.589 24 19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:38.285 + 2.655 25 20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:38.479 + 2.849 26
