Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the pace in opening practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, but the major talking point was three separate tyre failures for Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen.
Massa suffered a puncture while braking for Turn 6 just 20 minutes into the session, prompting the first of two red flags due to gravel and debris on the track.
After a brief lull as the circuit was cleared, the Brazilian returned to the track, only to suffer exactly the same issue, thought to be a very rare occurrence of double wheel rim failure.
Kevin Magnussen then had a much higher-speed tyre failure when he ran over debris on the back straight, deflating with such force that it destroyed his rear-left suspension.
The session was halted for nearly half an hour as the tarck was inspected by officials, resuming with just eight minutes left on the clock.
Those final minutes included most drivers running on the soft compound Pirellis, after lapping on the medium compund early on.
It meant that the times tumbled, with Rosberg popping up to beat Hamilton's earlier time by nearly eight tenths of a second, with a lap of 1m38.037s.
Despite finishing the session first and second it was far from a flawless run for Mercedes, with initial pace-setter Hamilton spinning at Turn 11 twice.
Rosberg ended the session on top, however he was instructed to return to the pits in 'limp home mode', with Mercedes citing an engine issue.
Sebastian Vettel was third for Ferrari, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, the best of the Red Bull Racing cars in fourth.
