Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas are both out on the track now. No times on the board yet.

The K-Mag a bit eager there as he spins on the damp track on his outlap. Not a biggie and he promptly rights himself and gets back under way.

Kevin Magnussen fires up the Haas and heads on out.

Expect others out there soon enough as well.

Green light! 

First practice is back under way.

The clock has continued to tick down so there's just 43 minutes left of first practice.

Lots for the teams to squeeze in during that time.

Good news! The session is restarting in three minutes. 

We got through that with minimal waffling from me. Happy days.

Where did it all go wrong, Mario? As mentioned earlier, Jarno Trulli isn't the only former F1 driver to hang up his helmet and grab a corkscrew instead - Mario Andretti also owns a winery.

Read about his life after racing (also involving F16 fighter jets, skydiving, snowmobiling and singing opera) in this piece from a couple of years ago.

Image source, .

Lance Stroll has just been talking to Tom Clarkson. The Williams driver made his F1 debut in Melbourne so, like Esteban Ocon, will be itching to get out on the track sharpish.

"This is not very exciting," he said. "It is a bit grey, not running, just waiting. I am ready to get out there now. You can't change the weather, but I want to get out there sooner than later.

"One Grand Prix in Melbourne in my pocket feels good. This is now my second shot so that bit of experience helps to feel good.

"We [Massa and I] are both helping each other. He is helping me a bit more at this stage but we both want one thing and that is to push the team forward. So far it has been a good relationship."

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Doubtless this will become a bit of a running theme, at least for the first few grands prix, but Fernando Alonso said he and McLaren “needed to be ready for a tough race” in China. 

As ever, the issue is the Honda engine - which is way down on power compared to all rivals. But Alonso said he was still hopeful of getting something out of the weekend. “It is difficult to predict because there are races you have a lot of expectations and you don’t deliver and then the opposite,” he said. “I don’t think we are lacking (hybrid energy) deployment compared to the opposition; it is just we have less power so our time on the straights is much longer.” 

The car, he said, was “good, I feel competitive in the corners. There are upgrades coming every race. On the chassis side we are completely ready.”

However, problems with the engine are compromising what the drivers can do in corners, too - such as needing to take some corners a gear up to protect the power-unit. 

Jeff Mason: WRC has a very cool e-sport side to their rallies. Both happen at the same time. F1 should try.

Bethonie Waring:  Also short attention span. F1 is competing against so many other things for our attention and when not much happens... it doesn't win 

Image source, F1.com

Everyone's in limbo at the moment as the clock continues to count down.   

Stoffel Vandoorne is just casually sitting crossed legged on a ledge in the McLaren garage. Different.

Agree with Jake? Should we just accept the sport being boring more often than it is exciting because of technology?

Let us know via #bbcf1, external

Jake del Ponte: To be the cutting edge of technology, I feel like eventually you are forced to accept a lack of overtaking and "excitement" .

Force India's Esteban Ocon is making his first appearance at the Chinese Grand Prix and is itching for the fog to shift so he can go out and get some mileage in.

"It is frustrating," he said. "I couldn't even do the install lap, we don't know when we can go out again and it changes our plan a bit."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, .

Back to the wine chat and here's Jarno Trulli enjoying a glass of red. He comes for a family of wine connoisseurs and owns a vineyard.

Mario Andretti also owns a winery in Napa, California.

Look at that fog!

Mark Gallagher
BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 analyst

Quite a lot of F1 drivers have to keep their weight down and really they can't take alchol around race weekends. I believe after they retire they go for the wine.