Hello and welcome to our live coverage of today's first free practice session ahead of Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

That wraps things up for this session. We'll be back in two and a half hours for the second session, so be sure to join us again then.

Schumacher finishes in third with Perez in fourth, Kobayashi fifth and Webber in sixth.

So, Hamilton tops the timesheets in the first practice session of the weekend, ahead of Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg sets a 1:38.116 to briefly go top but he's quickly trumped by Hamilton who roars round in 1:37.106!

Button also goes quick, but he has to settle for sixth place.

Hamilton goes fastest with a 1:38.146, seconds before the session ends!

Hamilton cannot keep up that initial pace - maybe due to the presence of a yellow flag - and he moves into third with a 1:39.11.

Webber trumps Schumacher with a 1:38.977 and once again the Aussie goes top of the timesheets. But here comes Hamilton, who has gone quickest in the first sector.

Schumacher goes fastest with a 1:39.318... how can Webber respond?

There's finally a bit of movement in the standings as Webber goes quickest in the first sector.

Hulkenberg moves up to sixth with a lap of 1:42.890.

Perez slots into fourth place with a 1:42.419, behind Maldonado, Grosjean and Webber.

We're edging towards the end of this first session, and still Webber is pacing it. Nineteen cars have now set times, but we're still waiting for the McLaren duo of Hamilton and Button to clock something concrete.

Caterham on Twitter: "Heikki reports that it's too dry for inters. Both cars coming back for slicks."

Button, who is out taking a look at the track, is told that the first cars are going out on prime tyres.

Vettel clocks a lap of 1:44.850 to slot into seventh place.

Vettel heads out and he will try to get to grips, literally, with the damp track.

Button and Hamilton are just sat in their respective cars with no indication that they're going to be doing otherwise for time being.

Kimi is told he has to switch off his DRS system by his team and operate it manually.

But it's Webber who still leads FP1 with a 1:39.558 with just over 20 minutes remaining.