Nico Rosberg fastest as failures disrupt Chinese GP practice

Championship leader Rosberg clocked a 1m38.037s on the softs to finish 0.146 seconds clear of Hamilton with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel just under half a second further back in third.

Race control brought out the red flag early in the session when Felipe Massa spun at Turn 6, dragging gravel onto track.

Replays showed the left rear tyre appeared to come away from its rim, pitching the Brazilian into a spin.

Massa recovered to the pits and headed back out later in the session, but the left rear deflated again.

Pirelli said investigations on both failures showed no sign of a puncture.

The session was red-flagged for a second time to clear substantial debris following a left-rear tyre deflation for Renault's Kevin Magnussen.

The Dane was warned by his team of a possible brake problem before Magnussen reported the rear suspension was broken.

Hamilton set the early pace on the medium tyres, two tenths quicker than his team-mate Rosberg.

However, Hamilton spun twice at the same corner with the Briton reporting: "Something is up, I keep having this locking into Turn 11".

In the closing stages of the session, Rosberg told Mercedes he was in "limp home mode" with the team telling him he might have "an engine issue".

Teams lost around 30 minutes during the second red flag as a comprehensive track inspection was carried out amid suggestions debris had triggered Magnussen's puncture.

There was a flurry of activity when the session restarted with eight minutes to go, during which Rosberg edged ahead of Hamilton and Vettel put his Ferrari third.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was fourth quickest ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr.

McLaren brought seven sets of the super-soft tyre to Shanghai and decided to make use of the rubber early in the weekend, with Jenson Button ending the session eighth, 1.9s off the pace.

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen completed the top 10.

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