Vettl's first training session in Shanghai

Sebatian Vettel set the fastest time of the first free practice in Shanghai, where he overtook Lewis Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc by 0.207 and 0.256 seconds, respectively. The Ferrari racer achieved a time of 1.33.911 on medium-hard tires, while Hamilton drove only on a soft compound. The second Ferrari racer also put his lap on medium-hard tires, which are supposed to be 0.6 seconds slower than soft ones, which testifies that the predictions about the dominance of the team from Maranello could come true.

Fourth was Max Verstappen, who was four tenths of a second slower than the German, and Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas was fifth. They put both of the fastest laps on soft tires.