The race was marked by difficulties in Friday practice sessions when weather in Shanghai prevented the medical helicopter from being available and only twenty minutes of running was possible.

Lewis Hamilton took his sixth consecutive pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel pitted to change from intermediate to slick tyres during a virtual safety car, dropping him to sixth position, but recovered to second place.

[6][7] Hamilton was granted permission to cross the track during the second practice session to greet fans and throw signed caps into the crowd in the grandstands; he used social media to suggest the situation provided an opportunity for new owners to be "proactive and creative".

Most teams opted to split tyre duties between their drivers and to collect some data on performance on longer runs, while also using their only opportunity to prepare for the afternoon's qualifying session.

[12] Weather forecasts predicted a high chance of rain during the race on Sunday,[11] adding an extra complication to the teams' calculations going into their single practice session.

[17] Behind Red Bull, competition was much closer, with positions eight to ten (Lance Stroll, Jolyon Palmer, and Carlos Sainz Jr.) covered by only 0.041 s[14] and positions eleven to sixteen (Nico Hülkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Pérez, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat, and Esteban Ocon) covered by 0.362 s.[12] Two-times world champion Fernando Alonso and the McLaren team were left competing only with Sauber at the bottom of the timing sheets, at least 2.5 s off the pace[15] and described by a commentator as "battl[ing] with the poor performance, reliability and fuel consumption of the Honda engine".

[21] Haas driver Grosjean had a spin at the final corner early in the session, managing to keep the car off the wall and returning to the pits with only a ruined set of tyres.

He was running in fifteenth late in the session when he spun on the astroturf on the outside of the final corner, hitting the wall hard and coming to rest in the middle of the track.

Two drivers eliminated in Q1, Palmer and Grosjean, who were both looking to out-qualify Giovinazzi when his accident occurred, were subsequently given five grid-slot penalties; the stewards stated that they "made no attempt to significantly reduce [their] speed in the area of a double waved-yellow flag".

[23] Grosjean disputed this statement, posting telemetry on Twitter showing that he braked 50 m earlier for the corner and was travelling 45 km/h slower,[24] though the stewards' decision was final.

The FIA took steps to ensure that access to emergency medical treatment, lack of which had led to cancellation of most of Friday practice, would not impede running of the race itself.

A police escort was made available to facilitate rapid ground transportation, and specialist neurological equipment was relocated to a hospital located five kilometres from the track.

Many drivers, including Alonso and Vettel reported of drying conditions before the race, whilst Hamilton's team estimated that a transition point where slicks would be appropriate would come around lap 6.

Räikkönen lost his place to Ricciardo early on and would prove to be on the back foot for the remainder of the race, later holding up teammate Vettel.

Incidentally, Vettel was noted by the stewards as being laterally to the left of his grid space at the start and was investigated for being out of position – since his car was edged towards Hamilton, yet no action was taken.

Many middle- and back-markers also made significant gains in the first lap, especially Verstappen, who overtook nine cars in the space of two minutes earning the title of "Driver of the Day".

[39] In a move he described as a "stupid mistake", Bottas spun behind the safety car while trying to warm his tyres, dropping down to 12th and was criticised by his team boss and former manager Toto Wolff.

[41] Verstappen overtook Ricciardo on lap 11 for second place, having started 16th, again demonstrating his skill in difficult conditions (similar to the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix).