The F1 cars took to the track for only a brief period on Friday after fog created issues for the medical helicopter.
While conditions were misty at the track, the real problem was at the hospital in downtown Shanghai, where conditions prevented the helicopter from landing.
The FIA has strict regulations about the time taken to transfer to the designated hospital, and while it is possible to take patients by road if the helicopter, in this case it could not be guaranteed. Between FP1 and FP2 an attempt was made to test the time it would take by sending a vehicle, but it could not meet the required standards.
The cars were soon only briefly in FP1, and they didn’t run at all in FP2 before the session was finally abandoned. The FIA offered the teams a chance to hold a window open for a session to run from 1700-1800, but they did not agree, and in any case conditions did not improve.
Only a few cars set flying laps during the brief FP1 running, with Max Verstappen proving fastest, but in reality the times were meaningless. Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean both had spins, while Nico Hulkenberg slid into a gravel trap.
