The first practice session in five years at the Chinese Grand Prix had to be halted due to two separate grass fire incidents.

A red flag briefly stopped proceedings for around five minutes after Alpine driver Esteban Ocon reported the flames by turn seven.

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The 27-year-old said on the team radio: “There is a fire in the grass.”

One marshal quickly arrived onto the scene with a fire extinguisher, before additional equipment arrived with a fire rescue team.

Once the flames had been put out, a patch of grass could be seen burnt to a crisp.

But incredibly, following the first Sprint Qualifying session, fire broke out again by turn seven.

This led to a yellow flag, with marshals again racing over to put it out.

Sky Sports commentator David Croft was left just as shocked as those watching on when the red flag was brought out at the start of session.

He said: “I don’t think I have ever, ever seen grass catch fire by the side of a Formula 1 track. It’s a very small grass fire at the moment.”

Pressed by 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg on how believes the grass caught fire, he remarked: “I would not even like to begin to speculate on that one.”

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He continued: “I have no idea how that would have happened.

“Unless of course Nico, a spark from underneath the car from the titanium blocks has just caught on a bump or something and sent the sparks showering into the side of the track, and that’s what ignited it.”

To which Rosberg stated: “That would be pretty miraculous though, wouldn’t it? But there’s probably no other explanation.”

The German icon was then left stunned by the second incident, as he said on commentary: “It’s on fire again, unbelievable!

“In the corner there’s a big bump on the ground and all the cars are launching big sparks from under the car.

“And the wind is pushing the sparks into the track at that point and putting the grass on fire.

“We’ve never seen that before.”

Source: TalkSport.com Motorsport