Mitch Evans topped the times in the opening session at the Shanghai International Circuit setting a time of 1:13.215.
The session had to be red flagged after five minutes when five cars came to a stop in quick succession. The ERTs of Sergio Sette Camara and Dan Ticktum, the Porsches of Antonio Felix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein as well as the Mahindra of Nyck de Vries all had to be taken back to the pits causing a 45 minute delay to the remainder of the session.
The session resumed with the remaining 25 minutes left and all five cars were able to return to action meaning all 22 cars were able to set competitive times, with the field separated by under 6 tenths of a second.
Andretti’s Norman Nato was second, with Jean-Eric Vergne in third. Jake Hughes and Oliver Rowland completed the top five.
Da Costa was sixth ahead of Ticktum, with Robin Frijns returning in eighth. Wehrlein was ninth ahead of Lucas Di Grassi.
Championship leader Nick Cassidy was 11th ahead of Nico Muller, Max Guenther in 13th, Jake Dennis in 14th and De Vries completing the top 15.
Sam Bird returned in 16th ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, with Edoardo Mortara in 18th. Sebastien Buemi was 19th ahead of Jehan Daruvala and Sacha Fenestraz, while Sette Camara completed the field of 22 runners.