Award-winning British racer Lewis Hamilton drives a Mercedes Formula One during last year's Chinese Grand Prix. (Photo : Reuters)
Setting the fastest time at 1 minute and 37.219 seconds, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton grabbed the top spot during the practice sessions of the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday.
The British driver's record was 1.2 seconds faster than the previous year's leading practice time at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Coming close behind is Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, with a record half a second lesser than the figure set by Hamilton.
"It's quite close between us and Ferrari. I think we definitely have a race like we said we would," Hamilton remarked.
Daniel Ricciardo, a Red Bull driver, landed on the third spot, shedding a light on his struggling team. Earlier, firm owner Dietrich Mateschitz warned about pulling out his team if they could not deliver a competitive performance.
"We had a few aero updates and drivability is always getting better. We definitely have had an improvement and that's all we can ask for," Ricciardo shared.
Ferrari and Mercedes drivers Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg completed the top five list, respectively.
Rosberg managed to climb up the fifth spot after running marginally wide at his flying lap's final corner.
"I tried a different line on the grass at the final corner, which was not very quick as it turns out," he said in a comical note.
As for German driver Vettel, Ferrari has been putting high hopes on him following his Malaysian Grand Prix victory two weeks ago.
However, he tried to lower his team's expectations, citing that Shanghai's cooler temperatures and long straights are more favorable for Mercedes vehicles.
"I think we can do a step forward (in qualifying) tomorrow and then we can see what we can do," Vettel stated.
"The target No. 1 is that we are right behind Mercedes. You have to accept that they are very strong, as the season gets on we try to get closer and closer," the German Ferrari driver added.
Completing the top 10 round-up were Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Felipe Nasr (Sauber), Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Jenson Button (McLaren).
Meanwhile, a bizarre moment also transpired during the practice sessions. A man intruded by scaling a 10-foot fence between the track and the grandstand. Before security staff caught him, he was able to dash across the starting line and leap over a pit wall and through a fence gap.
According to FIA, the governing body of the sports, investigation is being done. The incident did not bring about delay to the Chinese Grand Prix's practice session.
