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Security has been tightened at the Shanghai Formula 1 track after a spectator ran across the circuit during second Chinese Grand Prix practice.

The man climbed the trackside fencing on the main straight, waited for a gap between a Sauber and Force India and then ran across the track before climbing over the pitwall.

He then crossed the pitlane and headed towards the Ferrari garage before being apprehended by security and handed over to police.

AUTOSPORT understands he was holding a grandstand ticket in his hand and said in mandarin: "I want to test a car".

FIA race director Charlie Whiting requested to the clerk of the course that security be heightened and it is understood it has since been redoubled.

The incident was not shown live but broadcast later in the transmission as a replay.

It comes more than 10 years after the last spectator incursion onto an active F1 track, when demonstrator Neil Horan ran onto the circuit wearing a kilt and holding a religious banner at Silverstone during the 2003 British Grand Prix.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton finished fastest in second practice, 0.443 seconds quicker than Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen.