Vettel leads Hamilton in opening China practice

Sebastian Vettel set the pace for Ferrari in opening practice for the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday, edging out Mercedes Formula 1 rival Lewis Hamilton at the head of the timesheets.

Two weeks on from his costly spin when battling Hamilton in Bahrain, Vettel started the China weekend on the right foot by turning in a fastest time of 1m33.911s, lapping two-tenths of a second quicker than the rest of the field.

Vettel was able to make up for losses to Hamilton in the first two sectors by setting a quick time in Sector 3, with Ferrari's power advantage showing early down the long back straight.

Vettel also managed to set his time on the Medium compound tyre, with Hamilton's effort being posted on the quicker Softs.

Charles Leclerc took third place in the sister Ferrari SF90, finishing narrowly behind Hamilton, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen ended FP1 fourth-fastest.

Valtteri Bottas could only take fifth for Mercedes ahead of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, who finished as the leading midfield driver ahead of his 2019 Red Bull replacement Pierre Gasly.

Daniil Kvyat led Toro Rosso's efforts in FP1 as he took eighth ahead of Racing Point's Lance Stroll, the latter escaping a spin at the final corner early in the session without any issues. Romain Grosjean completed the top 10 for Haas, finishing ahead of Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen in 11th.

Nico Hulkenberg ended opening practice 12th ahead of rookies Lando Norris and Alexander Albon of McLaren and Toro Rosso respectively, while Kimi Raikkonen took 15th for Alfa Romeo.

Raikkonen was the sole Alfa Romeo driver to set a time in FP1 as teammate Antonio Giovinazzi was sidelined by a power issue, limiting him to just two laps early in the session.

Carlos Sainz Jr. wound up 16th for McLaren ahead of Racing Point's Sergio Perez and the Williams duo of Robert Kubica and George Russell, with Giovinazzi propping up the timesheets in P20.

Second practice in China gets underway at 7am BST on Friday.