Summary

  • Norris takes sprint race pole, Hamilton 2nd, Alonso 3rd

  • Drivers struggle on slippery track

  • Russell out in second session; Albon out in first session with Alpines

  • Delays caused by small track fires

  • Sprint race on Saturday before qualifying for Sunday's grand prix

  • Stroll topped practice

  • Chinese Grand Prix returns for first time since 2019

  • Get involved #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Gary Rose

  1. Practice top 10

    1) Stroll

    2) Piastri

    3) Verstappen

    4) Perez

    5) Hulkenberg

    6) Magnussen

    7) Ocon

    8) Albon

    9) Ricciardo

    10) Bottas

  2. So Lance Stroll tops the times in the only practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix.

    His time of 1:36.302 is three tenths quicker than Oscar Piastri. Max Verstappen is third.

  3. chequered flag

    Chequered flag

    And that time will not be bettered as Lance Stroll finishes fastest in practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.

  4. Into the final few seconds as Lance Stroll goes quickest, clocking 1:36.302.

  5. A minute to go and Mercedes have focused all their running on hard tyres. Unlike almost all the other teams they have not given the softs a go.

  6. Oscar Piastri, on his first outing on this circuit, produces a quick lap as a 1:36.629 puts him top of the pile for now.

  7. Zhou Guanyu delights the home fans as he briefly goes fourth quickest on softs.

    Improvements from Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas drops him to seventh.

  8. Max Verstappen dips below 1:37 as he clocks 1:36.660 on softs. Sergio Perez is back up into P2, half a second slower than his Red Bull team-mate.

  9. Plenty on the softs now so expect those times to continue to come down in the next few minutes.

  10. Alex Albon is up into P1 with a 1:37.229 set on softs as Sergio Perez locks up into the hairpin.

  11. Logan Sargeant kicks off what's likely to be soft tyre runs for many as he does a 1:38.317 to move into P2.

    "Well that was terrible," he says.

  12. The track is pretty empty now with the vast majority of drivers back in the pits, making set up tweaks for these closing stages of practice.

  13. Fernando Alonso is off down an escape road after running wide as he locked up going into the pits. He soon manages to get himself out of trouble and back on the track.

  14. George Russell took a while to get going in this session but he has the seventh quickest time now with a 1:38.806, 0.030s quicker than Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

  15. Esteban Ocon, with an upgraded floor on his Alpine, goes fifth quickest on soft tyres, half a second off Charles Leclerc's leading time of 1:38.090.

  16. Mercedes have been circulating on hard tyres for a good half hour as Lewis Hamilton does a 1:38.882, eight tenths off Charles Leclerc's time.

  17. The Ferraris leap up to the top of the order as Charles Leclerc does a 1:38.130 on softs. That's two-tenths quicker than Carlos Sainz, who had a trip into the gravel a little earlier.

  18. The black and white flag is waved at Lewis Hamilton for crossing the pit lane entry during that bit of traffic chaos.

  19. "I just got pushed off by Lando," says Lewis Hamilton over the radio as he makes an impromptu trip into the pits.

    It was actually Oscar Piastri's McLaren although I'm not sure he did too much wrong, with Hamilton seemingly getting caught out by a bit of traffic on the track.

  20. George Russell, on hard tyres, is up and running with a 1:41.149. Not enough to lift him from 20th.