Nico Rosberg and Mercedes have kicked off their campaign for a second successive Chinese Grand Prix victory in strong fashion by topping the opening 90 minute practice session of the weekend.

The fastest times were all set at the end of the first hour before the field switched to high fuel runs.

Rosberg’s 1:36.72s best proved 0.45s quicker than that of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The best non-Mercedes entry, the Red Bull of Mark Webber, was almost a full second adrift of the pace-setting German.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso completed the top five, while Jenson Button was a promising sixth for McLaren.

Sergio Perez endured a difficult end to proceedings in the second McLaren, beaching his MP4-28 in the pit entry gravel trap.

Kimi Raikkonen also endured a wild moment by spinning his Lotus at Turn 9, but was able to continue undamaged.

Chinese driver Qing Hua Ma, who has previous Formula 1 testing experience with the now defunct HRT outfit, made his debut with Caterham at the foot of the time sheets.

A second 90 minute session later this afternoon will complete the day’s Formula 1 action.

See below for the full Practice 1 result