April 15, 2016 – Nico Rosberg topped the timesheet in the opening practice for the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix, with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton coming second, but the main talking point was a series of tyre blowouts, two for Massa and one for Magnussen, that caused two red-flag sessions.
Three tyre failures in opening practice for the Chinese GP https://t.co/67Ckh8fI23 #F1 pic.twitter.com/HbccV1aEM1
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 15, 2016
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m38.037s | – | 16 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m38.183s | 0.146s | 16 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m38.665s | 0.628s | 12 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1m39.061s | 1.024s | 13 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m39.155s | 1.118s | 11 |
| 6 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1m39.625s | 1.588s | 14 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m39.676s | 1.639s | 12 |
| 8 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m39.974s | 1.937s | 11 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m40.169s | 2.132s | 13 |
| 10 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m40.232s | 2.195s | 13 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m40.347s | 2.310s | 15 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m40.538s | 2.501s | 11 |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m40.828s | 2.791s | 10 |
| 14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m41.358s | 3.321s | 9 |
| 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m41.393s | 3.356s | 18 |
| 16 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1m41.614s | 3.577s | 20 |
| 17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1m41.816s | 3.779s | 16 |
| 18 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m42.908s | 4.871s | 14 |
| 19 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m42.980s | 4.943s | 8 |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | – | – | 6 |
| 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | – | – | 2 |
| 22 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | – | – | 4 |
