Button tops first practice in Shanghai

Jenson Button set the fastest lap time of the opening practice session in Shanghai ahead of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

Sepang race winner Sebastian Vettel, who is hoping his Red Bull Racing team will soon have its own version of the F-duct system, was fifth fastest but nearly nine tenths slower than the leading trio.

Both Renault of Kubica and Petrov ended the session in the top ten, as well as the RB6 of Mark Webber and the Force India of Adrian Sutil.

Sebastien Buemi had a major scare in the final part of the session. A sudden double suspension failure on his Toro Rosso under heavy breaking meant he was pitched into the barrier and gravel trap at high speed.

The session was immediately red flagged and the Italian team withdrew Alguersuari’s car from the rest of the session.

Shaken, the Swiss driver initially refused to discuss his crash. After a primary investigation, the STR team has concluded that the incident was caused by a front right upright failure – which was a new design introduced for the Chinese GP.

The team will fit both its cars with uprights from a previously used and proven design for the rest of the weekend.

There was another and less dramatic incident in the Scuderia Ferrari camp with Fernando Alonso’s engine blowing. The team admitted to knowing “this engine wasn’t too good” as it had to be removed from the Spaniard’s car after overheating in Bahrain.