Formula 1 News: Stroll tops only practice for Chinese GP

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll turned a lap of 1m36.302s on soft Pirelli tires to top the only practice session for the 2024 Chinese GP in Shanghai.

Because of the limited practice time, everyone was on different strategies, some doing qualifying laps while others focussed on race setup, it was hard to tell who was really fastest at this point.

Keen to keep an extra soft set for Sprint Qualifying later on, Lando Norris, the Mercedes duo and Fernando Alonso focussed on hard tire runs.

Oscar Piastri was 2nd quick for McLaren, 0.327s behind the Canadian and just ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Sergio Perez wound up fourth in the other Red Bull, as Haas pair Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen also benefitted from last-gasp runs on the soft tyres to place fifth and sixth respectively, just ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

A wide range of run plans were on show as practice developed, with Pirelli’s hard, medium and soft tires all making an appearance across the opening 15 minutes, before a brief pause to proceedings as marshals dealt with a small fire on the trackside grass at Turn 7.

Aston Martin brought upgrades to Japan, and those seem to have made a bit of a difference to the Silverstone based team, but we saw a bit of graining on the tires of both Alonso and Stroll.

Yes, that session won’t have been fully representative with not everyone going for super low fuel runs, but even so – that Aston Martin looks fast.

Red flags, a mixed up order and plenty to play for. Today is set up perfectly ahead of Sprint Qualifying later on. Just a reminder, that session is an abridged version of Qualifying, with slightly shorter segments and mandatory tire compounds.

Up Next: Sprint Race Qualifying

2024 Chinese GP Practice Results