Motor racing-Chinese Grand Prix practice session briefly halted by track-side fire

Formula One F1 - Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China - April 19, 2024 Red Bull's Max Verstappen and mechanics on the pit lane during practice /Edgar Su

SHANGHAI - The sole practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai was interrupted by a small fire next to the track on Friday, leading to a red flag.

Flames could be seen on a patch of grass near turn seven of the Shanghai International Circuit just over 15 minutes into the session.

The fire was quickly extinguished by a marshal, leaving a blackened circle of grass, before the session resumed minutes later.

Formula One returns to Shanghai this week in China's first grand prix since 2019, with the past four races cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time of the incident, Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fastest, setting an early lap time of 1:39.110 on medium tyres.

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)