Friday analysis – who will challenge in China?

As usual, Friday was a day for learning about the behaviour of the prime and option tyres, and the handling of the cars on low and high fuel loads. We take a team-by-team look at progress in Shanghai ahead of this weekend’s Chinese event…

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 36.775s, P3/1m 35.217s, P1
Jenson Button, 1m 36.677s, P1/1m 35.593s, P3
Hamilton said he was happy with his car’s balance, which he believed was far more relevant to his lap times than straight-line speed and F-ducts. He also said the car continued to give him the good feelings it had in Malaysia. Button echoed his sentiments, but said that he hit traffic on his afternoon run on new tyres.