Russell and teammate Antonelli fastest in Chinese GP practice, Norris in third

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]Russell[/a], winner of the season-opener in Australia, was untouchable again, going fastest on the medium tyres in the first part of the session.[/p][p]He then strapped on softs with 12 minutes to go and blasted round in one minute and 32.741 seconds, 0.120 clear of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/antonelli-andrea-kimi/ptGu0mT1/"]Antonelli[/a].[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/norris-lando/WSVABbVF/"]Norris[/a], who was 0.555 seconds behind Russell, and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piastri-oscar/MqKAIeUf/"]Oscar Piastri[/a] came next in an improvement for McLaren, who struggled in Australia.[/p][p]Fifth and sixth were the Ferraris of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leclerc-charles/KlCOSRub/"]Charles Leclerc[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hamilton-lewis/tI5Vpe1h/"]Lewis Hamilton[/a] respectively.[/p][p]The Haas of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bearman-oliver/tMI3u5xo/"]Oliver Bearman[/a] was seventh and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verstappen-max/UV3mgeXB/"]Max Verstappen[/a]'s Red Bull was eighth, a massive 1.8 seconds adrift of Russell.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hulkenberg-nico/GfW4SMu7/"]Nico Hulkenberg[/a] (Audi) and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gasly-pierre/nqYFMBBf/"]Pierre Gasly[/a] (Alpine) rounded out the top 10 ahead of qualifying later Friday for the first sprint race of the season.[/p][embed guid="ce5ae3c7-0939-4a38-9f3c-a1554765d942" url="https://x.com/F1/status/2032313797810041256?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Teams had only one hour to hone their set-ups at the Shanghai International Circuit, a very different track to Melbourne, where last week's opening race was held.[/p][p]Shanghai has one long straight and several complexes of turns requiring a different approach to battery deployment and energy harvesting in the new cars, which have a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.[/p][p]Hamilton, who won the sprint in China 12 months ago, had an early spin Friday when his brakes locked up towards the end of the main straight.[/p][p]It was an eventful start to the session for the seven-time world champion, who also had a minor bump with Norris when they touched in the final corner.[/p][p]Rookie [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lindblad-arvid/bgk1rl5a/"]Arvid Lindblad[/a] had to retire from his first look at the Shanghai track after just five laps with smoke coming out of his cockpit.[/p]