Chinese GP: Button tops practice 1 as Buemi’s suspension explodes

Jenson Button (1:36.677) topped the first session of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, round four of the F1 world championship with just a tenth of a second separating the reigning world champion, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes (1:36.748) and teammate Lewis Hamilton (1:36.775) in the second McLaren Mercedes.

The real newsmaker, however, was a dramatic incident involving Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso, which had spent much of the session in the pits with a leak in the brake system. Not long after Buemi re-emerged, the Toro Rosso both front suspensions exploded under maximum braking at the end of the main straight. The forces were such that the wheel tethers were torn away, with one of the errant wheels narrowly missing a camera man before bouncing over the retaining fence into a public area.

Buemi looked concerned and a little angry when he returned to the pits and the team was awaiting the return of its crashed chassis to further investigate the root of the problem.

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