Brawn GP's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were in action at the Shanghai International Circuit today in the first of the practice sessions ahead of Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

After completing early installation laps, the first practice session really got underway for the team after thirty minutes with Jenson and Rubens beginning their respective Friday programmes. For the remaining hour of the session, the pair worked on the balance of their BGP 001 cars and fine-tuning the set-up to the demands of the 5.451km track.

In second practice this afternoon, the team concentrated on evaluating the super soft and medium Bridgestone Potenza tyre compounds available for this weekend. Jenson and Rubens each completed 35 laps over longer runs to end the day with Jenson at the top of the timesheets and Rubens in third position just two-tenths behind.

Jenson Button: "The balance of the car really improved over the last couple of runs today after we had been struggling a little to find the right set-up early on. We completed a great deal of work with the two very different tyre compounds to establish what condition they would be in after longer runs. There seemed to be a lot of traffic on track today so my main concern was finding some clear air. It was a useful first day of running but we still have some work to do tomorrow to be happy with the balance for qualifying."

Rubens Barrichello: "Another positive Friday and we achieved some good work today which will set us up well going into the weekend. Our main focus was on the tyres and evaluating the best way of looking after the softer option tyre and it was very useful to find out what the tyres are capable of. We tried various things but I did struggle for grip with my last set of tyres this afternoon. There are a lot of marbles on the track at the moment but it should clean up going into the weekend."

Ross Brawn: "We have had a productive day which has enabled us to complete a thorough evaluation of the prime and option tyres ahead of the weekend. Our main focus was on the softer option tyre and establishing the best way to work with this compound in qualifying and the race. Although we are not quite satisfied with the balance yet, the car worked well in the cooler temperatures that we are experiencing this weekend with the race taking place six months earlier than usual."

To check out our Shanghai practice gallery, click here