Alonso fastest in first Shanghai practice

With new Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiaci looking on, Fernando Alonso set the quickest time of the opening practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Alonso’s lap was 0.398 quicker than second-placed Nico Rosberg and almost a full second clear of third-placed Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing.

Rosberg’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton, winner of the last two grands prix, was eighth- fastest in the session, which was held in cool conditions. The Briton finished the session 1.7s adrift of Alonso and ended his session early with a balance problem.

World champion Sebastian Vettel was also significantly slower than his team-mate, the German finishing a second down on Ricciardo.

Mclaren’s Jenson Button was fourth fastest ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and the second McLaren of Kevin Magnussen.

A number of teams and drivers encountered problems during the session, most notably Kimi Raikkonen. The Ferrari driver completed just one installation before he retired to the garage where for the rest of the session his crew set about fixing a problem with the front end of his car.

Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez didn’t take to the track until an hour into the session after he suffered a clutch issue on his Sauber C33. Elsewhere, Marussia’s Jules Bianchi had a fuel system problem following his installation lap and sat out the bulk of the session before emerging for a short run at the end of the 90 minutes.

On track there were brief incidents for Pastor Maldona, who spun his Lotus in Tunr 9 early on, and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat who had a spin in Turn One.