Macau GP: Giovinazzi leads first practice

The Italian, who drives for Carlin, headed the time sheets early on and then traded the top spot with Prema's Felix Rosenqvist throughout the 45-minutes.

But the pair found it hard to get a good rhythm as two red flags interrupted running.

The first was caused by Jake Dennis crashing in the Solitude Esses after 20 minutes, while Carlin's Callum Ilott caused the second stoppage with nine minutes to go when he hit the barriers at the left just before Faraway.

Despite the interruptions, Giovinazzi was able to consistently improve throughout with his best lap of 2m13.829s coming on his final lap of the sesson. It left him 0.754s clear of Rosenqvist.

Markus Pommer was third quickest, ahead of TOM's driver Kenta Yamashita and Yuhi Sekiguchi.

British driver Alexander Sims and Chinese Li Zhi Cong both hit the barriers at Lisboa during the session, but their cars were retrieved without the need for a red flag.

Free Practice Results:

POS	RIDER	TEAM	TIME	GAP
1	Antonio Giovinazzi	Carlin with LC8.com	2:13.829
2	Felix Rosenqvist	SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam	2:14.583	0.754
3	Markus Pommer	Motopark	2:15.122	1.293
4	Kenta Yamashita	Tom’s	2:15.473	1.644
5	Yuhi Sekiguchi	B-Max Racing Team	2:15.643	1.814
6	Yu Kanumaru	Carlin	2:15.926	2.097
7	Nick Cassidy	Tom’s	2:16.454	2.625
8	Lance Stroll	SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam	2:16.492	2.663
9	Mitsunori Takaboshi	B-Max Racing Team	2:16.606	2.777
10	Alexander Albon	Signature	2:16.682	2.853
11	Gustavo Menezes	Carlin	2:16.698	2.869
12	Martin Hongwei Cao	Fortec Motorsport	2:16.705	2.876
13	Charles Leclerc	Van Amersfoort Racing	2:16.782	2.953
14	Alexander Sims	Double R Racing	2:16.824	2.995
15	Alessio Lorandi	Van Amersfoort Racing	2:16.868	3.039
16	Sam Macleod	Team West-Tec F3	2:16.947	3.118
17	Mikkel Jensen	KFZ-Teile 24 Mücke Motorsport	2:18.003	4.174
18	Arjun Maini	Three Bond with T-Sport	2:18.225	4.396
19	Callum Ilott	Carlin	2:18.976	5.147
20	Santino Ferrucci	KFZ-Teile 24 Mücke Motorsport	2:19.607	5.778
21	Ryan Tveter	Team West-Tec F3	2:19.740	5.911
22	Dorian Boccolacci	Signature	2:19.824	5.995
23	Jake Dennis	SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam	2:21.263	7.434
24	Li Zhi Cong	Jo Zeller Racing	2:22.077	8.248
25	Matthew Solomon	Double R Racing	2:22.761	8.932
26	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	2:22.883	9.054
27	Daniel Juncadella	Fortec Motorsport	2:26.721	12.892
28	Chang Wing Chung	Fortec Motorsport	2:33.663	19.834