Jenson Button clocked the fastest time during the first practice session of the Chinese GP. Button's time of 1 minute 36.677 seconds at the Shanghai circuit put him ahead of Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg. Behind them, it was McLaren and Mercedes again, with Lewis Hamilton finishing third and Michael Schumacher in fourth.
All wasn't perfect at the session though, with Toro Rosso's Sebastian Buemi being involved in a horrific crash. The front wheels of the Toro Rosso flew off the car under braking at the end of the main straight. Reports so far suggest the crash was caused by a suspension failure. Buemi escaped unharmed, however.
Finishing fifth in practice was Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel. Right behind Vettel was Renault's Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov. In eighth place, was Mark Webber.
And it was another unhappy incident for the Ferrari team, with another engine failure. Fernando Alonso's chances at the practice session quite simply all went up in smoke. Ferrari won't be penalised for changing their engines as yet. The penalty will only come into force if the allotted eight engines have been consumed.
Good news for Force India though, with Adrian Sutil finishing ninth in practice, one spot ahead of championship leader Felipe Massa.
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