Full results from Free Practice 1 for the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit, round three of the 2019 Formula 1 season.<doc-sep>Full results from final practice for the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit, round three of the 2019 Formula 1 season.<doc-sep>Lewis Hamilton topped the first F1 practice session of the new season as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull proved very-closely matched in the first exchanges of the Australian GP weekend. Mercedes and Ferrari were split by less than a tenth of a second, with Max Verstappen an additional tenth back for Red Bull. Hamilton's pacesetting time of 1:23.599 was a mere 0.038s quicker than perennial Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel, with Charles Leclerc right behind his new team-mate in third. Verstappen's early pace in the new Red Bull-Honda also gives the new partnership encouragement heading into the remainder of the weekend. "That session reinforced our views about the top three being very close, then there being about a second back to the midfield, which is very close as well," said Sky F1's Martin Brundle. Valtteri Bottas headed the timesheet in the early stages of the session but slipped to fifth in the second Mercedes, with the Finn running off the circuit at the penultimate corner. 1:03 Valtteri Bottas spins during Practice One Valtteri Bottas spins during Practice One Midfield also close, but Williams cut adrift Kimi Raikkonen was a promising sixth-quickest for the Alfa Romeo team, with the returning Daniil Kvyat seventh for Toro Rosso. Get Sky Sports F1 for 2019 Formula 1 in 2019: Full race schedule But Williams' expected early-season struggles appeared to be laid bare in Practice One as their two cars trailed over four seconds off the pace. After delays to the team's testing programme were followed by technical boss Paddy Lowe taking a leave of absence last week, Williams finished 19th and 20th in the opening session and clearly have much work to do. 1:28 Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon spun and hit the wall during Practice 1, leading to the session being red flagged. Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon spun and hit the wall during Practice 1, leading to the session being red flagged. Toro Rosso rookie Alex Albon, meanwhile, became the first driver to hit the barriers this season when he span out mid-way through the session. The British-born driver broke his car's front wing, although was able to drive back to the team's pit box. As expected, the midfield teams appeared very well-matched straight away in Melbourne, with four tenths of a second covering six teams. While Alfa Romeo, Toro Rosso and Haas headed the midfield in P1, Renault were 10th with Nico Hulkenberg and 17th with new signing Daniel Ricciardo - although the Australian was believed to have been held up on what would have been his quickest lap. Racing Point, who have brought a big upgrade to the opening weekend, and McLaren were at the bottom end of this pack. Australian GP, Practice One Timesheet Driver Team Time 1) Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.599 2) Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +0.038 3) Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.074 4) Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.193 5) Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.267 6) Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo +1.217 7) Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +1.233 8) Pierre Gasly Red Bull +1.333 9) Kevin Magnussen Haas +1.335 10) Nico Hulkenberg Renault +1.416 11) Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo +1.567 12) Romain Grosjean Haas +1.625 13) Alex Albon Toro Rosso +1.631 14) Carlos Sainz McLaren +1.686 15) Lance Stroll Racing Point +1.689 16) Sergio Perez Racing Point +1.899 17) Daniel Ricciardo Renault +2.035 18) Lando Norris McLaren +2.367 19) Robert Kubica Williams +4.315 20) George Russell Williams +5.141 Sky Sports F1 is the home of live and exclusive F1 - and new and existing customers in the UK can now get the channel for just £10 extra a month, our best-ever offer. Find out more here to watch the 2019 season live<doc-sep>
Charles Coates/Getty Images Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets in second practice at the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday. The Mercedes driver posted a lap of one minute, 33.330 seconds to push Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel into second place. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third-fastest, and fans will hope all three of the top teams will be battling it out for the race win come Sunday at the Shanghai International Circuit. Here are the full standings from Friday's second session, with defending world champion Lewis Hamilton finishing in fourth: Hamilton spun early on in second practice, drawing a yellow flag but avoiding the gravel at Turn Two, and soon after Bottas followed suit: The British driver recovered to better Charles Leclerc's early benchmark, but Vettel then went fastest on the soft tyres before being eclipsed by Bottas. Leclerc, who cruelly missed out on a first race win last time out in Bahrain, had his second practice session of Friday cut short when he returned to the Ferrari garage with just under half an hour remaining. The Italian team explained the stoppage was only precautionary: Video Play Button Videos you might like Vettel was fastest in first practice earlier on Friday, heading Hamilton by two-tenths of a second despite being on medium tyres: Leclerc was third ahead of Verstappen, while Bottas and Renault's Daniel Ricciardo completed the top six. Racing Point's Lance Stroll had the only spin of the session early on at the final corner, but ended up finishing ninth-fastest with a 1:35.466.