Valtteri Bottas was fastest in Free Practice 2 at the Shanghai International Circuit ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.
The championship leader pipped the Scuderia Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel by two hundredths of a second. Max Verstappen was third to make it three different constructors in the top three in the session.
The second Mercedes-AMG Motorsport of Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest ahead of Nico Hülkenberg who was a few tenths quicker than Renault F1 Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian was ninth fastest.
Carlos Sainz Jr. was sixth with the second McLaren F1 Team of Lando Norris eighth, sandwiching the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Pierre Gasly in the second Red Bull Racing rounded out the top ten.
Antonio Giovinazzi was out first as he got some important running in after only completing two laps in Free Practice 1 in the morning. He was displaced early on by Norris before the Ferrari’s of Vettel and Leclerc found themselves at the top of the time sheets.
Hamilton was second fastest in the morning but he went for a spin at turn two on his first lap out the pits in this session. Team-mate Bottas also spun as he exited the pit lane as Mercedes seem to struggle to get the tyres up to temperature early on. The British driver was able to go fastest when he managed to set a flying lap.
Romain Grosjean was forced to change front wing during the session after it partially collapsed on track as Haas F1 Team finished near the bottom of the timing sheets.
Another set of runs saw Vettel go top before being dislodged by Bottas as everyone soon began focusing on race simulations rather than pure lap times.
Daniil Kvyat was late to the session as his Scuderia Toro Rosso was worked on but he eventually got out with around half an hour to go in the session and finished just behind team-mate Alexander Albon.
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