The opening Friday practice session for the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix would commence with Kobayashi and D'Ambrosio coming out first, followed by Di Resta. Liuzzi, Buemi, Ricciardo and Karthikeyan would also head out for their installation laps. Button and Alonso would also come out followed by more and more drivers, including the likes of Vettel, Button, Alonso, Rosberg, and Petrov.

With about fifteen minutes of the session run AT&T Williams driver Rubens Barrichello would take to the track. The Williams team had several new parts that they wanted to test during the Friday practice sessions. Karthikeyan would set the first time with a 1m:51.516. Liuzzi would set a 1m:48.923 to be second as Karthikeyan improved with a 1m:48.042. Rubens would set a 2m:04.278 as he completed some aero tests. Kobayashi would go fastest with a lap of 1m:45.609. Liuzzi would improve his time with a 1m:46.825 to be second.

But ti would be Hamilton who would set the first serious lap time with a 1m:42.306. Button would move into second as Webber and the Ferrari's came out for their first runs. Webber would go third with a 1m:42.677 while Hamilton would improve with a 1m:41.092. Massa was now third with a 1m:42.374 while Webber would go fastest with a 1m:40.93.

Pastor Maldonado would come out for his first runs on the Shanghai circuit. Pastor would set a time that would see him seventh but his next lap, 1m:44.692, would see him fifth. So after thirty minutes of the session Webber would continue to be fastest from Hamilton, Button, and Massa. Webber would lower the quickest time with a 1m:40.055 while team-mate Vettel would come out to set a time.

Vettel's first time would see him eighth with a 1m:44.838 as Buemi moved up to fifth with a 1m:42.317. This would see Pastor drop down one spot. Vettel's next lap would see him third with a lap time of 1m:40.922. Massa was now fourth from Perez and Pastor. Rubens had pitted without improving on his slow two minute lap time. He was now sixteenth as Di Resta moved up to seventh, 1m:41.922. We had yet to see times from either Renault of Mercedes cars. Pastor would pit, currently in tenth.

Webber would also come in as Hulkenberg would move up to fifth, 1m:41.494. Lotus Friday driver Razia would damage the front wheel and left wheel touring slowly back to the pits. Vettel would find time moving up to second with a 1m:40.193. Both Mercedes cars and Petrov were now out on the track as Vettel's next lap would see him fastest with a 1m:39.540 to be 0.515 ahead of Webber.

Rosberg's first lap would see him thirteenth with a 1m:43.064. Kovalainen would move up to seventh with a 1m:41.579 as Hamilton returned to the track. The second Mercedes of Schumacher was down in fifteenth as Button set a 1m:40.940 to be fourth. Vettel had pitted but would return to the track, joined by Webber. Vettel would continue to set the pace with a 1m:38.739 and on his next lap a 1m:38.886. Weber would improve slightly with a 1m:39.924 but was now 1.1 seconds slower than his team-mate Hamilton was in third but over two seconds slower than Vettel.

Heidfeld would move his Renault up to seventh with a 1m:41.431. Webber would set a 1m:39.354 to reduce the gap to Vettel down to 0.615 seconds. For Heidfeld his session would come to a stop when he was to spin his car crashing the nose against the barrier at Turn ten. Both AT&T Williams cars had returned to the track with Rubens moving up to twelfth with a 1mL41.939. Pastor's best time was a 1m:42.105 seeing him down in fourteenth. Pastor would pit again as Rubens continued to put in extra laps.

Rubens would also pit with around twenty minutes of the session remaining. Both Red Bull's were also back in their pits with Vettel fastest from Hamilton, Button, Heidfeld, Massa, Perez, Hulkenberg, Kovalainen, and Di Resta in tenth. Rubens and Pastor had dropped down the order to be thirteenth and fifteenth. Rosberg had moved up to eleventh but Schumacher was down in seventeenth.

Alonso and Glock had yet to set times but Alonso had completed ten installation laps. Webber and Hamilton were back out on the track with just over fifteen minutes remaining. Alonso was also out for his first timed lap setting a 1m:42.464 to be seventeenth but his next lap would see him s et a 1m:41.434 to go tenth fastest. Rubens was also out on the track joined by Pastor. Pastor would find a considerable amount of time moving up to eighth with a 1m:41.222. But his session would come to an end as he would beach his car on the kerb at Turn five after spinning his car.

Rubens was now fifteenth as Vettel returned to the track. Rosberg was in ninth, 1m:41.361 with ten minutes left in the session. Rubens would drop to seventeenth as the session came to an end. He was over three seconds slower than the quickest time of Vettel. Pastors car had been removed by tractor after a considerable delay. Liuzzi would spin at Turn two right near the end of the session.

Pastor would end the session still in eighth which was encouraging for the Venezuelan on his first visit to the Shanghai circuit in an F1 car, despite his mistake. Rubens was down in seventeenth but the team had been testing new parts so his pace is hard to gauge.

Pos  Driver         Team		   Time       Laps
 1.  S Vettel       Red Bull-Renault       1m38.739s   23
 2.  M Webber       Red Bull-Renault       1m39.354s   27
 3.  L Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes       1m40.845s   21
 4.  J Button       McLaren-Mercedes       1m40.940s   22
 5.  N Heidfeld     Renault                1m40.987s   5
 6.  F Massa        Ferrari                1m41.046s   25
 7.  S Perez        Sauber-Ferrari         1m41.189s   20
 8.  P Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth      1m41.222s   20
 9.  V Petrov       Renault                1m41.231s   16
10.  S Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.328s   21
11.  N Rosberg      Mercedes               1m41.361s   23
12.  F Alonso       Ferrari                1m41.434s   15
13.  N Hulkenberg   Force India-Mercedes   1m41.494s   20
14.  H Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault          1m41.579s   13
15.  P di Resta     Force India-Mercedes   1m41.610s   18
16.  D Ricciardo    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m41.752s   20
17.  R Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth      1m41.939s   25
18.  M Schumacher   Mercedes               1m42.301s   23
19.  K Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari         1m43.792s   20
20.  J D'Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth        1m44.089s   20
21.  T Liuzzi       HRT-Cosworth           1m44.359s   18
22.  T Glock        Virgin-Cosworth        1m44.438s   11
23.  L Razia        Lotus-Renault          1m44.542s   9
24.  N Karthikeyan  HRT-Cosworth           1m45.019s   23