Hamilton tops practice times for Chinese Grand Prix race

MANAMA

Lewis Hamilton Friday beat Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso as the Mercedes driver set the pace in practice at the Chinese GP.

Hamilton recovered from a suspension issue that cut short his first session to beat Alonso by 0.141 seconds.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was third, 0.411secs behind Hamilton. The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel were next, ahead of Williams’ Felipe Massa, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren’s Jenson Button, and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was 10th, from Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren.

Hamilton’s fastest time came despite him complaining about under steer - a lack of front grip - when he finally made it out on to the track about 20 minutes into the second session. The Englishman also missed about the same amount of time at the end of the first session as Mercedes decided to ensure they had enough time to fix the car.

“It was a difficult day but it’s OK,” said Hamilton. “We got some laps in P2. We’ve been working on the tyres - there has been lots of graining, but the pace doesn’t look too bad.

“I missed a bit of practice in P1 which put me on the back foot for this weekend. I went into the session not really happy with the balance of the car, so we have some work to do.”

Ferrari had a mixed day under the gaze of their new team principal Marco Mattiacci, who created a bit of a stir by wearing sunglasses all day despite the generally overcast weather. Mattiacci’s predecessor Stefano Domenicali resigned after Alonso and Raikkonen finished ninth and 10th in the last race in Bahrain.