F1 Chinese GP: Nico Rosberg says tyre wear gives Ferrari a chance

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, winner in Malaysia, was Mercedes' closest challenger in qualifying, but the four-time world champion was nine tenths off Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg's pace in third.

However, despite the sizeable gap between the two teams, Rosberg is not discounting a threat from the Scuderia, which again appears to be kinder on its tyres compared to Mercedes.

"It's going to be a very challenging race because we have the option [soft] tyre to start off with and that's going to fall apart at some point quite dramatically," said Rosberg.

"There is going to be a lot going on at that time of the race.

"The Ferraris might be able to go longer than us, as we have seen in Malaysia, so I wonder how that will play in with the strategy.

"Even with the prime [medium] tyre, it's going to be on the edge."

Rosberg missed out on pole position to team-mate Lewis Hamilton by less than half a tenth in what was the closest qualifying gap between the Mercedes duo since the season began, leaving the German visibly unhappy at the end of qualifying.

"Yeah, I'm frustrated," he said. "I want to be on pole. It was a good lap, it was 99.5 per cent but not 100. Four hundredths is just a blink of an eye."

But despite being beaten by Hamilton in qualifying for the third time this season, the German believes the high level of degradation being felt by all the teams leaves the race very open.

"There are plenty of opportunities," he said. "That's the great thing.

"In Melbourne, there was no opportunity. I was very, very close, but there was just one strategy there and no tyre degradation so there was no opportunity for me to take.

"Tomorrow, there are many opportunities."