Lance Stroll put Aston Martin quickest in the only practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend as F1 returned to the Shanghai International Circuit.
Stroll’s best time of a 1’36.302 on the soft tyres was three tenths faster than Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.Skies were overcast for the only practice session of the weekend with ambient and track temperatures slightly warmer than earlier forecasts had predicted. With only one hour of free practice before sprint qualifying, teams took vastly different approaches to their run plans for the session.
Stroll set the fastest time late in the hour on soft tyres. But his best was around two-and-a-half seconds slower than the fastest time of the opening practice session of the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix, set by Sebastian Vettel, indicating lap times have room to improve significantly on the track which had a layer of sealant added to it during F1’s five-year absence.
The Aston Martin driver displaced Piastri’s McLaren at the top of the times, while the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez were behind them. Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were fifth and sixth, with Esteban Ocon seventh in his Alpine. Alexander Albon, Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas completed the top ten, with Zhou Guanyu just behind his team mate in 11th.
Several top teams featured outside the top ten, including the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr in 13th and 14th, respectively. Lando Norris was well down in 16th, but only after abandoning his flying lap on soft tyres after going quickest of all in the first two sectors. The Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were in 17th, 18th and 19th respectively as all three only used a single set of hard tyres each during the session.
Practice was stopped briefly 15 minutes into the running when a patch of grass ignited on the inside of turn seven. The small fire forced race director Niels Wittich to red flag the session. After a brief pause to extinguish the burning patch, practice resumed minutes later.
Lewis Hamilton received a black-and-white warning flag for failing to keep inside the white line at pit entry following a near-miss between the Mercedes driver, Hulkenberg and Piastri at the final corner saw Hamilton bail to the pit lane. Piastri and Fernando Alonso also both ran down the escape road at the pit entry while testing how hard they could push on their in-laps.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Chinese Grand Prix first practice result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’36.302 | 21 | |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’36.629 | 0.327 | 24 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’36.660 | 0.358 | 25 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’36.690 | 0.388 | 24 |
| 5 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’37.101 | 0.799 | 23 |
| 6 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’37.118 | 0.816 | 23 |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A524 | 1’37.213 | 0.911 | 23 |
| 8 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW46 | 1’37.229 | 0.927 | 19 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 01 | 1’37.238 | 0.936 | 25 |
| 10 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’37.530 | 1.228 | 24 |
| 11 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’37.626 | 1.324 | 24 |
| 12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 01 | 1’38.006 | 1.704 | 27 |
| 13 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’38.090 | 1.788 | 20 |
| 14 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’38.284 | 1.982 | 19 |
| 15 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | FW46 | 1’38.286 | 1.984 | 23 |
| 16 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’38.630 | 2.328 | 21 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W15 | 1’38.806 | 2.504 | 21 |
| 18 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W15 | 1’38.839 | 2.537 | 24 |
| 19 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’38.936 | 2.634 | 22 |
| 20 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A524 | 1’39.276 | 2.974 | 21 |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Chinese Grand Prix
- Aston Martin petitions FIA to review Alonso’s penalty for Sainz collision
- “You need to be more on it”: 12 unheard radio exchanges from the Chinese GP
- Ricciardo needs to show “head-turning form” for 2025 chance – Horner
- With fourth format change in as many years, F1 relegated sprint races to a sideshow
- Williams accept ‘harsh but correct’ penalty for Sargeant
Qeki (@qeki)
19th April 2024, 7:02
Are teams mouth shut because no one is talking about how teams have no data over 5 years from this venue and it is a sprint weekend. It has been quite common to talk about how dangerous it is doing sprint in a track where they haven’t raced
Mayrton
19th April 2024, 7:08
Well here is an idea. Why don’t we go straight out of the box into the Sprint shootout. After all we’ve come to see an athletic and team performance at the highest level of Motorsport. Let’ not wax the ski’s for the downhill or not inflate the ball before we start the match.
S
19th April 2024, 7:25
You make it sound like professional athletes need some kind of special circumstances – that everything has to be absolutely perfect for them at all times.
They’ll adapt and make their own decisions on risk/reward accordingly – this is what they are good at. They are all in the same boat, anyway – nobody has an advantage over the rest here that they don’t have at every other venue too.
I am absolutely looking forward to seeing how they handle some unknowns for a change.
Might get some reactive ‘sporty’ happenings out of this rather than the usual ‘executing the business plan that the computer produced months ago’ routine.
sumedh
19th April 2024, 8:02
Well, no other sport (tennis, football, cricket, etc.) spends more time practicing than in actual points bearing matches / races.
It is about time F1 reduces its practice durations.
nm
19th April 2024, 8:05
serious? i think they practise nearly every day of the week in all those sports.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
19th April 2024, 8:49
and they still get a second serve!
Pete
19th April 2024, 8:09
I’d say it’s the opposite…. No sportsmen spend less time practicing than F1 drivers!
Dex
19th April 2024, 16:20
I’m sorry, but you’ve no idea about what it takes to be an athlete. In tennis you train for hours every day (if you’re serious), and you also play sparring matches. Average pro athlete trains at least 2-4 hours per day, some more, every single day. In F1 they only get to practise before the races, and for very limited time. The only difference is that you actually get to see their training. Still, I don’t know why did you think that athletes never train, only because it’s not being broadcasted live…
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
19th April 2024, 7:40
Hopefully Alonso can copy Stroll’s setup to get himself up to speed. /s
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 10:04
Ross Brawn and others have said Barrichello is one of the best drivers ever in setting up a car and giving engineers feedback. Same goes for other non-fantastic racers like PDR, Wurz, etc. However, being honest, I somehow don’t see Stroll being great with feedback or setup.
He really backed up that fastest practice lap with a great sprint quali run!