Hamilton leads first session in China

The McLaren driver's title rival Felipe Massa was second for Ferrari, but was 0.390 seconds slower than Hamilton, who could potentially wrap up the 2008 championship this weekend, but arrives at the circuit under pressure following the controversial incidents and penalties of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) completed the top four, with outside title contender Robert Kubica fifth for BMW ahead of the in-form Fernando Alonso (Renault).

After a very quiet start to the session, Raikkonen was the first of the major contenders to show his hand after 35 minutes, beating previous pace-setter Sebastien Bourdais by six tenths of a second, only to then spin at Turn 2 on his next lap.

The McLaren and Ferrari drivers then proceeded to swap the top spot repeatedly during a frantic 10 minutes which saw first Kovalainen, then Massa hit the front, before Raikkonen moved back ahead - but only for a few moments as Kovalainen also improved and returned to first position just after Raikkonen.

Hamilton took time to get up to speed, wasting one lap by running very wide over the run-off exiting Turn 13. But as the session hit its halfway point he produced a 1:36.044 with his first clean lap and moved to the head of the order.

Massa was still improving though, and two minutes later he usurped his title rival by 0.020 seconds.

That proved to be the final change of the first runs, but when the front-runners returned to the track 15 minutes later it was Hamilton who took charge. While his main rivals failed to improve their times, the championship leader found a further four tenths of a second and moved clear of the field with a 1:35.630 lap.

With the lead drivers all sticking to old tyres and relatively long runs in the closing minutes, Hamilton's time remained the benchmark through to the end of the morning.

Behind the top six, Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld took seventh, with Toro Rosso duo Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel eighth and 10th, sandwiching Nelson Piquet (Renault).

The Turn 11/12 chicane was the scene of most of the session's incidents, with both Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) having half-spins mid-corner - Trulli's leaving him briefly stuck on the grass until he found reverse and edged back onto the circuit. Honda's Rubens Barrichello also had a brief moment at this spot and bounced over the grass.

Piquet had an excursion through the pitlane gravel trap made famous by Hamilton's error in the 2007 race. Unlike Hamilton last year, though, Piquet was able to keep going through the gravel and return to his pit.

                    
Pos  Driver       Team                      Time               Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:35.630           23
 2.  Massa        Ferrari              (B)  1:36.020  + 0.390  24
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              (B)  1:36.052  + 0.422  23
 4.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:36.103  + 0.473  21
 5.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           (B)  1:36.507  + 0.877  25
 6.  Alonso       Renault              (B)  1:36.661  + 1.031  25
 7.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           (B)  1:37.040  + 1.410  23
 8.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:37.070  + 1.440  32
 9.  Piquet       Renault              (B)  1:37.180  + 1.550  30
10.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:37.278  + 1.648  25
11.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:37.491  + 1.861  26
12.  Button       Honda                (B)  1:37.619  + 1.989  25
13.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:37.630  + 2.000  23
14.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:37.638  + 2.008  22
15.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:37.638  + 2.008  26
16.  Glock        Toyota               (B)  1:37.664  + 2.034  29
17.  Barrichello  Honda                (B)  1:37.827  + 2.197  28
18.  Trulli       Toyota               (B)  1:38.219  + 2.589  24
19.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:38.285  + 2.655  25
20.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:38.479  + 2.849  26

All timing unofficial