» Alonso tops chilly FP1 at Shanghai

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen have greeted the arrival of Ferrari’s new team principal, Marco Mattiaci, in contrasting ways as Friday practice for the Chinese Grand Prix got underway.

The pair book-ended the timesheets at the end of the first session: Alonso was quickest overall, while Räikkönen didn’t post a time after his F14T was hit with technical issues.

With the session held in very cold and overcast conditions, it was Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes which led the proceedings early on as a number of runners took to the track in the first half-hour on the specifically-assigned set of Pirelli Medium compound tyres.

But Alonso moved to the top of the timing screens just before that half-hour period ended, and he remained there for the rest of the 90-minute session.

Rosberg finished up second-quickest, almost four-tenths of a second slower than the Spaniard, while Daniel Ricciardo was third-fastest in his Red Bull Racing Renault to ensure all three engine manufacturers were represented in the top three spots on the timesheets.

The McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen were next up, sandwiching Nico Hülkenberg’s Force India, while Jean-Éric Vergne was seventh-fastest in his Toro Rosso, followed by Bahrain Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel’ Red Bull. Felipe Massa rounded out the top ten in his Williams.

F1 rookie Daniil Kvyat explored all corners of the Shanghai International Circuit with a number of spins in his Toro Rosso en route to the eleventh-fastest time. He wound up two-tenths of a second faster than Romain Grosjean, who Lotus held together for 24 laps in what was a productive session for the black and gold cars. Teammate Pastor Maldonado was, however, over 1.5 seconds slower than the Frenchman.

Friday’s second practice session at Shanghai gets underway at 2:00pm local time (GMT +8).

2014 Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Results:

	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	1:39.783		20
2.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:40.181	+ 0.398	16
3.	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:40.772	+ 0.989	23
4.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:40.970	+ 1.187	23
5.	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:41.175	+ 1.392	16
6.	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes MP4-29	1:41.366	+ 1.583	20
7.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:41.505	+ 1.722	26
8.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W05	1:41.560	+ 1.777	9
9.	Sebastian Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault RB10	1:41.629	+ 1.846	19
10.	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:41.699	+ 1.916	14
11.	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Renault STR9	1:41.977	+ 2.194	23
12.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:42.090	+ 2.307	24
13.	Felipe Nasr	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW36	1:42.265	+ 2.482	13
14.	Giedo van der Garde	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:42.615	+ 2.832	16
15.	Sergio Pérez	Force India Mercedes Mercedes VJM07	1:42.733	+ 2.950	13
16.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team Renault E22	1:43.731	+ 3.948	22
17.	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:44.038	+ 4.255	16
18.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C33	1:44.162	+ 4.379	17
19.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:44.270	+ 4.487	7
20.	Max Chilton	Marussia F1 Team Ferrari MR03	1:44.782	+ 4.999	20
21.	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham F1 Team Renault CT05	1:44.835	+ 5.052	22
22.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari F14T	no time		1