Formula 1 News

Jenson Button fastest in first practice at Shanghai 

Rosberg second quickest, Hamilton third

2009 world champion Jenson Button has topped the timesheets in the first free practice session of the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix.

The Briton clocked a best time of 1:36.677, beating by 0.071 seconds Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg (1:36.748) and by 0.098 team-mate Lewis Hamilton (1:36.775).

Fourth fastest time for Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher (1:37.509), followed by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (1:37.601), Renault’s Robert Kubica (1:37.716), Renault’s Vitaly Petrov (1:37.745) and Red Bull’s Mark Webber (1:37.980).

Ninth time in the session for Force India’s Adrian Sutil (1:38.008), ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa (1:38.098), Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari (1:38.161), BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi (1:38.375) and Pedro de la Rosa (1:38.421).

No timed laps for Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who had to pull off at Turn 6 after another engine failure.

The session was red flagged with 15 minutes to go when Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi crashed at the end of the circuit’s back straight. As both front wheels came suddenly off the STR5 while in the braking zone, the Swiss couldn’t do much and went straight on and stopped – uninjured – in the gravel trap.

2010 Chinese Grand Prix, First free Practice results:

Image © Bridgestone