Lewis Hamilton went quickest in first practice ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix as Mercedes bounced back from defeat to Ferrari in Malaysia and dominated the opening session in Shanghai. 

After a tricky first half of the session in which he had a number of off-track moments in the cool conditions at the circuit, Hamilton vaulted to the top of the timesheet with about 40 minutes remaining. His best lap of 1:39.033 was good enough to keep him more than half a second clear of team-mate Nico Rosberg and 1.1s ahead of Malaysian Grand Prix-winner Sebastian Vettel.

The German was followed by Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who ended the session with a best time of 1:40.661, just over five tenths of a second down on Vettel.

Sauber’s Felipe Nasr emphasised the current strength of Ferrari’s much-improved power unit by taking fifth place, 0.4s second behind Raikkonen.

Williams’ Felipe Massa looked like he might take the fight to the Ferraris late on but the Brazilian locked the rears of his FW37 at the hairpin and compromised his lap.

It meant that sixth place went to Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, with team-mate Daniil Kvyat seventh, though the pair were some two seconds off the pace set by Hamilton.

Carlos Sainz continued his good work at Red Bull sister team Toro Rosso by posting the morning’s eighth-fastest time.

Massa’s late spin meant he had to settle for tenth place on the timesheet, one thousandth of a second adrift of team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Elsewhere, Lotus test driver Jolyon Palmer made his grand prix debut for the Enstone team. The Briton recovered from an early spin to eventually finish in 15th place, behind Marcus Ericsson in the second Sauber and the McLaren of 13th-placed Jenson Button, the duo confirming the continuing improvement of the Honda-powered MP4-30. Ahead of the McLarens, Pastor Maldonado finished 11th, with Max Verstappen 12th in the second Toro Rosso.

Sergio Perez was 16th-fastest for Force India ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, with the Spaniard time in the garage in the second half of the session. Nico Hulkenberg was 18th ahead of the Manor cars of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi.

2015 Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:39.033   21
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:39.574 0.541 21
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:40.157 1.124 18
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:40.661 1.628 27
5 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:41.012 1.979 18a
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:41.029 1.996 21
7 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing 1:41.097 2.064 24
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:41.112 2.079 23
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:41.303 2.270 23
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:41.304 2.271 17
11 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:41.335 2.302 23
12 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:41.575 2.542 28
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:41.845 2.812 19
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:41.918 2.885 24
15 Jolyon Palmer Lotus 1:41.967 2.934 25
16 Sergio Perez Force India 1:42.141 3.108 22
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:42.161 3.128 20
18 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:42.184 3.151 19
19 Will Stevens Marussia 1:45.379 6.346 18
20 Roberto Merhi  Marussia 1:46.443 7.410 20