The two commentators talked for about fifteen minutes before they headed to Karun Chandhok, who was in one of the corners as cars were crossing behind him at an unusually slow speed compared to how fast they would have gone in a qualifying or race session. No one talked about it, as they were still getting into the session, but also because of the crosswind around the track, as drivers were constantly losing control of their cars, locking up, and having to counter-steer.
They had dropped their aero rakes after driving only a few laps, since that was all that was needed to gather the required data.
As the first session drew to a close, the wind picked up, sweeping sand onto the track and activating the Virtual Safety Car. It remained active until the end of the session a few minutes later as all the cars returned to the pit.
