Chinese GP: Alonso and Ferrari lead first Friday practice

Alonso led the Friday track cleaning session

Fernando Alonso set the early pace for the Ferrari in the opening 'track cleaning' session for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

The two-time world champion was 0.398 seconds faster than Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, but the times are meaningless and the Mercedes team will certainly lead session 2.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo was third quickest in his Red Bull ahead of Jenson Button's McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg was fifth fastest for Force India, one place in front of the other McLaren of Kevin Magnussen.

Results

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Behind Laps
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m39.783s +0.000s 20
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m40.181s +0.398s 16
3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m40.772s +0.989s 23
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.970s +1.187s 23
5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m41.175s +1.392s 16
6. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m41.366s +1.583s 20
7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m41.505s +1.722s 26
8. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m41.560s +1.777s 9
9. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.629s +1.846s 19
10. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m41.699s +1.916s 14
11. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m41.977s +2.194s 23
12. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m42.090s +2.307s 24
13. Felipe Nasr Williams-Mercedes 1m42.265s +2.482s 13
14. Giedo van der Garde Sauber-Ferrari 1m42.615s +2.832s 16
15. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m42.733s +2.950s 13
16. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m43.731s +3.948s 22
17. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m44.038s +4.255s 16
18. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m44.162s +4.379s 17
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m44.270s +4.487s 7
20. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m44.782s +4.999s 20
21. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m44.835s +5.052s 22
22. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari No Time No Time 1