Formula One returns to China after a five year hiatus.
A very unusual occurrence took place during Formula One’s comeback to China. Lance Stroll lead the practice session marked by a peculiar red flag interruption due to a grass fire.
The start of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend began with Free Practice One. As Formula one has once again returned to Shanghai after a five year break, cars were quick to get out on the track. Normally teams are more relaxed at the start of FP1, but the combination of the lack of any recent previous data at this track plus being a sprint weekend and the sprint shootout coming up later in the day meant there was no time to waste.
The only Free Practice session of the weekend saw teams go through many different practice programs. Tires were also a point of focus as driver were getting a feel of the newly re-surfaced track and teams were deciding on the best tire strategy. The use of tire variation down the grid will be something to look out for as the weekend goes on. Wind was also an issue as many drivers were locking up their tires around corners because of it.
One of the big talking points from the session was the grass fire that broke out. After the first round of initial running, a dry patch of grass caught fire near turn 7. The fire brought up smoke near the track and grew quite large rather quickly. This caused the red flag to come out, parking the carts in their pit garages.
How The Drivers Stacked Up
Aston Martin driver Stroll put down the fastest lap of the session after a late effort on the soft tires. Stroll was followed up by Oscar Piastri of McLaren as he took second on the medium tires. After Piastri, the pair of Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez came in third and fourth respectively.
Check out the full results here.
That does it for the only Free Practice session in China. Up next is what is shaping up to be an interesting sprint shootout, the first one of the year.
