Lewis Hamilton continued Mercedes’ dominance of the 2014 Formula 1 season after setting the pace in practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Brit encountered balance issues with his W05 in Free Practice 1 but his team rectified the problems for the second session, as he topped the times ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton set a benchmark time of 1m38.315s which was just 0.141s quicker than last year’s Chinese Grand Prix winner Alonso in a rapidly improving Ferrari.
The Spaniard, who topped the times in Free Practice 1, starred in front of his new Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci, who replaced Stefano Domenicali this week.
Championship leader Nico Rosberg confirmed Mercedes‘ impressive pace by recording the third fastest time. Both Hamilton and Rosberg were trialling brand new front wings for the Brackley-based team.
Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest for Red Bull with a best time almost two tenths of a second quicker than his four-time world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Williams driver Felipe Massa posted the sixth fastest time while Kimi Raikkonen was seventh ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Lotus enjoyed their most encouraging day of the season so far as Romain Grosjean showed the potential of the E22 by setting a time good enough for ninth spot.
However, his team-mate Pastor Maldonado produced the only real incident in the session when he crashed in to the pit lane entry, which brought his session to a premature end after just 12 laps.
Rookie Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10 following an impressive showing for Toro Rosso.
Free Practice 1
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m39.783s | 20 | |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m40.181s | +0.398s | 16 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1m40.772s | +0.989s | 23 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m40.970s | +1.187s | 23 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercede | 1m41.175s | +1.392s | 16 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m41.366s | +1.583s | 20 |
| 7 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1m41.505s | +1.722s | 26 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m41.560s | +1.777s | 9 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1m41.629s | +1.846s | 19 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1m41.699s | +1.916s | 14 |
| 11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1m41.977s | +2.194s | 23 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1m42.090s | +2.307s | 24 |
| 13 | Felipe Nasr | Williams-Mercedes | 1m42.265s | +2.482s | 13 |
| 14 | Giedo van der Garde | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m42.615s | +2.832s | 16 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercede | 1m42.733s | +2.950s | 13 |
| 16 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1m43.731s | +3.948s | 22 |
| 17 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1m44.038s | +4.255s | 16 |
| 18 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m44.162s | +4.379s | 17 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1m44.270s | +4.487s | 7 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1m44.782s | +4.999s | 20 |
| 21 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1m44.835s | +5.052s | 22 |
| 22 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1 |
Free Practice 2
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m38.315s | 25 | |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m38.456s | +0.141s | 28 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m38.726s | +0.411s | 30 |
| 4 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1m38.811s | +0.496s | 30 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1m39.015s | +0.700s | 31 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1m39.118s | +0.803s | 25 |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m39.283s | +0.968s | 25 |
| 8 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m39.491s | +1.176s | 29 |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1m39.537s | +1.222s | 36 |
| 10 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1m39.648s | +1.333s | 26 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1m39.736s | +1.421s | 30 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m39.744s | +1.429s | 29 |
| 13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1m39.759s | +1.444s | 28 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1m39.830s | +1.515s | 25 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1m40.124s | +1.809s | 32 |
| 16 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m40.359s | +2.044s | 32 |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m40.395s | +2.080s | 30 |
| 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1m40.455s | +2.140s | 12 |
| 19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | 1m42.327s | +4.012s | 27 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | 1m43.473s | +5.158s | 30 |
| 21 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1m43.530s | +5.215s | 32 |
| 22 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | 1m43.679s | +5.364s | 32 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s expert guide to the Chinese Grand Prix.
*Stay with Speedcafe.com for all the latest news from the Chinese GP this weekend
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