Mercedes faster than Ferrari by a whisker
SHANGHAI: Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton edged out Kimi Raikkonen at the top of the timesheets as Ferrari ended the opening day of practice for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix hot on the heels of pacesetter Mercedes.
The Briton lapped the 5.4km Shanghai International Circuit in 1min 33.482sec in the afternoon session, beating Raikkonen to the top spot by a mere 0.007sec.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was third and 0.033sec off the pace and Ferrari’s championship leader, Sebastian Vettel, was fourth, 0.108sec short of his rival’s best.
The top three finished the afternoon in the same order as they had ended the opening 90 minutes of practice.
‘‘We got through all the laps that we needed and got some good feed back about the car,’’ Hamilton said after a cold afternoon.
‘‘The balance of the car is good but we have some finetuning to do on it tonight. Ferrari were quick and Red Bull looked really fast on the long run.
‘‘It’s good to see all the times so close, but it means that we really need to bring our A game. We need everyone in the team to be on it throughout the weekend because it is a joint effort,’’ the Briton added.
The best Vettel had managed in the morning had been sixth, 0.862sec off Hamilton’s pace.
Hamilton has an impressive record in China and is determined to claw back at least some of his 17point deficit to Vettel in the overall standings after the German powered to victory in the opening two races in Australia and Bahrain.
The Briton, like Vettel a fourtime world champion, has won in Shanghai an unprecedented five times.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fifthfastest in both sessions, closing in to end the day 0.341sec off Hamilton’s pace.
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was sixth and Kevin Magnussen seventh for the USowned Haas team, ahead of the other Renault of Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
Daniel Ricciardo, who was fourth in the first session for Red Bull, could not quite string a clean lap together and finished the day only ninth, ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who rounded out the top 10.
New Zealander Brendon Hartley struggled to make an impact, posting the 16thfastest time in the first session and 15th-fastest in the second.
He was nearly two seconds slower than the time set by Hamilton.
The fastest of Hartley’s session-high 37 laps for Toro Rosso was 1min 35.333sec. He was nearly half a second slower than Toro Rosso teammate Pierre Gasly, who was 12th fastest.
Hartley is coming off 15th and 13thplaced finishes in the first two rounds in Australia and Bahrain.
His knowledge of the Shanghai circuit is limited to three appearances there when contesting the World Endurance Championship in a Porsche. — Reuters/NZN