lewis hamilton suggested mercedes will be back in control for this weekend's chinese grand prix ferrari and sebastian vettel conjured one of the biggest surprises for many a formula one season with the team's first victory for almost two years at the last race in malaysia many people expected another dominant mercedes campaign in the wake of last season's crushing success and thoroughly convincing win in the opening race in australia lewis hamilton was fastest in first practice for this weekend's chinese grand prix  the mercedes driver, who leads the championship, set the pace as he bids to win his fourth race in china  hamilton was over half a second clear of mercedes team mate nico rosberg in opening practice  1 lewis hamilton  mercedes 1:39033  2 nico rosberg  mercedes 1:39574  3 sebastian vettel ferrari 1:40157  4 kimi raikkonen ferrari 1:40661  5 felipe nasr  sauber   ferrari 1:41012  6 daniel ricciardo red bull   renault 1:41029  7 daniil kvyat  red bull   renault 1:41097  8 carlos sainz jr toro rosso   renault 1:41112  9 valtteri bottas williams mercedes 1:41303  10 felipe massa  williams mercedes 1:41304  11 pastor maldonado  lotus   mercedes 1:41335  12 max verstappen  toro rosso   renault 1:41575  13 jenson button mclaren 1:41845  14 marcus ericsson  sauber   ferrari 1:41918  15 jolyon palmer lotus   mercedes 1:41967  16 sergio perez force india   mercedes 1:42141  17 fernando alonso mclaren 1:42161  18 nico hulkenberg  force india   mercedes 1:42184  19 will stevens marussia   ferrari 1:45379  20 roberto merhi  marussia   ferrari 1:46443  even mercedes motorsport boss toto wolff suggested ferrari's success was 'a wake up call' to his organisation without doubt mercedes responded in the first practice session ahead of the latest race at the shanghai international circuit, and none more so than reigning champion hamilton a three times winner at this track, including last season, hamilton finished 0541secs clear of team mate nico rosberg, with a best lap of one minute 39033secs none of their rivals even came close, with vettel a further half a second adrift at 1:40157secs, with his team mate kimi raikkonen 16secs down on hamilton valtteri bottas was ninth in his williams, over two seconds shy of hamilton's best time  jenson button was within three seconds of hamilton's lap and 13th in the first practice standings  fresh from winning in malaysia, vettel was best of the rest in shanghai behind the two mercedes drivers  to underline mercedes' supremacy and the gap to raikkonen, from the finn in fourth to force india's nico hulkenberg in 18th, there was a difference of just 15secs behind mercedes and ferrari, the best of the rest was felipe nasr in his sauber, with the brazilian rookie 1979secs off the pace, whilst daniel ricciardo finished 1996secs down for red bull no other driver came within two seconds of hamilton, with daniil kvyat seventh for red bull, followed by toro rosso's carlos sainz the williams duo of valtteri bottas and felipe massa completed the top 10, 227secs adrift and split by a mere one thousandth of a second as for mclaren, jenson button was 13th and fernando alonso 17th, with the latter 3128secs behind hamilton, with even jolyon palmer ahead of him on his debut for lotus last year's gp2 champion, serving as reserve with lotus this season, was 15th and 2934secs down, with highly experienced team mate pastor maldonado only 06secs ahead manor pair will stevens and roberto merhi both enjoyed plenty of track time, completing 38 laps between them for young british rookie stevens his 18 laps were crucial as he had so far failed to take part in either qualifying session or race in australia and malaysia stevens finished 6346secs behind hamilton, with merhi bringing up the rear another 11secs down
fernando alonso mercedes mclaren sebastian vettel second 13th lewis hamilton jenson button nico rosberg
lewis hamilton over half a second clear of team mate nico rosberg  sebastian vettel was a further second adrift of the mercedes pair  jenson button was 13th and fernando alonso 17th for mclaren 