It was visibility rather than a wet track that brought out the red flag only five minutes after the start of the session. The medical helicopter was unable to fly to the designated hospital in the smog, making it unsafe for the cars to be on track. That delayed the real start of the session for over 40 minutes, when the session restarted with about half the time remaining.
About twenty minutes later, the red flag was brought out again as the helicopter was once again unable to operate.
In the brief period of running available, drivers headed out on a mixture of wet weather and intermediate tyres. Rain made the track greasy, leading to a number of spins and slides. Nico Hulkenberg was the only driver to have a serious incident, though, when he span at turn three and beached his Renault in the gravel, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car.
Kevin Magnussen completed more laps than anybody else, managing a huge eight laps of the Shanghai circuit. Only fourteen drivers managed to set flying laps, with Verstappen leading the way with a 1:50.491 on intermediate tyres.
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