Lewis Hamilton dominated the first practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix as he hunts pole position to give him the best possible starting position, considering his five-place grid penalty.
The McLaren driver set a time a second quicker than the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, who finished ahead of his team-mate, Michael Schumacher in third.
Sauber’s Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi completed the top five fastest cars.
Mark Webber went quicker than his team-mate, with the pair running different specification exhausts. Sebastian Vettel using the pre-season set-up went seventh quickest.
Three test drivers made their on-track debuts this season, Valterri Bottas, Giedo van der Garde and Jules Bianchi.
2012 Chinese GP FP1 Results:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:37.106 | 7 | |
| 02. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.116 | +1.010 | 14 |
| 03. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:38.316 | +1.210 | 14 |
| 04. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:38.584 | +1.478 | 13 |
| 05. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:38.911 | +1.805 | 12 |
| 06. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:38.977 | +1.871 | 15 |
| 07. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:39.198 | +2.092 | 12 |
| 08. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:39.199 | +2.093 | 6 |
| 09. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:39.748 | +2.642 | 16 |
| 10. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:39.768 | +2.662 | 14 |
| 11. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:40.056 | +2.950 | 14 |
| 12. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:40.153 | +3.047 | 14 |
| 13. | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:40.298 | +3.192 | 8 |
| 14. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:40.328 | +3.222 | 13 |
| 15. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:40.540 | +3.434 | 12 |
| 16. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:41.071 | +3.965 | 14 |
| 17. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:41.204 | +4.098 | 14 |
| 18. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:42.330 | +5.224 | 14 |
| 19. | G. Van der Garde | Caterham | 1:42.521 | +5.415 | 11 |
| 20. | J. Bianchi | Force India | 1:44.118 | +7.012 | 8 |
| 21. | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:44.227 | +7.121 | 10 |
| 22. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:44.500 | +7.394 | 15 |
| 23. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:47.104 | +10.098 | 12 |
| 24. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:50.465 | +13.359 | 11 |
