The Spaniard Fernando Alonso was fastest in the first practice session of Formula 1, in the circut of Shanghai, China. The Ferrari has dominated the last half hour of the session but his teammate finished last.
First place for Fernando Alonso in a session with cold conditions, which did not allowed the circuit to improve the traction and grip.
Alonso set the fastest time of the session in the absence of this 30 minutes, followed by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg who finished three tenths behind. Third was Ricciardo, who again finished ahead of Vettel, followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg, Force India driver, in the top 5.
Surprisingly, Lewis Hamilton, the winner of the last two races of the championship, finished eighth with only 8 laps completed, revealing a problem with his car, same as Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn was only able to complete an installation lap at the end of the session, ending at the last position.
Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Lap Time | Laps | |
| 1 | #14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.783 | 20 |
| 2 | #6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 0.3s | 16 |
| 3 | #3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Renault | 1.0s | 23 |
| 4 | #22 | Jenson Button | McLaren Mercedes | 1.2s | 23 |
| 5 | #27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India Mercedes | 1.3s | 16 |
| 6 | #20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren Mercedes | 1.5s | 20 |
| 7 | #25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso Renault | 1.7s | 26 |
| 8 | #44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1.7s | 9 |
| 9 | #1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Renault | 1.8s | 19 |
| 10 | #19 | Felipe Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1.9s | 14 |
| 11 | #26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso Renault | 2.2s | 23 |
| 12 | #8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus Renault | 2.3s | 24 |
| 13 | #40 | Felipe Nasr | Williams Mercedes | 2.5s | 13 |
| 14 | #36 | Giedo Van der Garde | Sauber Ferrari | 2.9s | 16 |
| 15 | #11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India Mercedes | 3.0s | 13 |
| 16 | #13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus Renault | 3.0s | 22 |
| 17 | #10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham Renault | 3.3s | 16 |
| 18 | #21 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber Ferrari | 3.4s | 17 |
| 19 | #17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia Ferrari | 3.5s | 7 |
| 20 | #4 | Max Chilton | Marussia Ferrari | 4.0s | 20 |
| 21 | #9 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham Renault | 4.1s | 22 |
| 22 | #7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | No time | 1 |