2015 Chinese Grand Prix

Championship standings

Hamilton enters with a three-point lead over Vettel, who surprised the field by winning in Malaysia. Rosberg is a further seven points behind in third.

Previous race

Vettel took a commanding victory in Malaysia — Ferrari’s first since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix — with Hamilton second and Rosberg third. Vettel was emotional on the podium, describing his debut win for Ferrari as “incredible.” Mercedes had led a dominant one–two early in the race, but Vettel’s strategy and race pace proved superior. Max Verstappen finished seventh on his second start, becoming at that point the youngest driver to score World Championship points.

Tyres

Pirelli supplies the medium compound as the prime tyre and the soft compound as the option.

Practice

Hamilton tops all three sessions, at times more than half a second clear of his rivals. The first session is disrupted by multiple off-track incidents: Hamilton and Rosberg both run wide at different parts of the circuit, and Felipe Massa spins his Williams in turn 14, bringing out a red flag. Late in the session, a spectator runs across the main straight and enters the Ferrari garage, stating he wanted to “try a car.”

In the second session, Massa spins at the same turn 14 corner, bringing out another red flag. The left-rear brake on Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull starts smoking after a pit stop, forcing the team to investigate. Fernando Alonso stops on his installation lap in the third session and Jenson Button is called back to the pits with a similar engine issue. Massa suffers smoke in his cockpit — attributed to the mandatory titanium skid plates that create sparks when the car rides over bumps — on both Friday and Saturday.

Jolyon Palmer replaces Romain Grosjean at Lotus for the first practice session.