Summary Kimi Raikkonen clocked the fastest time in the second free practice ahead of Chinese Grand Prix.
SHANGHAI (AFP) - Ferrari struck a psychological blow ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix as Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel pipped the dominant Mercedes in Friday s second free practice.
Raikkonen blazed to a fastest lap of one minute, 36.896 seconds, edging Vettel by 0.109, as Ferrari bared their teeth after some indifferent form in the season s first two races.
Nico Rosberg, who won in Australia and Bahrain, went third quickest in 1:37.133 after posting the fastest time in the morning, while world champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth in the Shanghai haze.
Fernando Alonso, who fractured ribs after a terrifying crash in the season-opening race, was formally cleared to compete by medics after clocking the 12th-fastest time in the morning. The Spaniard inched up to 11th in the second session.
Though lacking, perhaps, the drama of Friday practice 12 months ago, when a Chinese fan vaulted the pitlane wall and demanded to test drive a Ferrari, there were plenty of thrills in the morning with two red flags after a series of blown tyres.
The jousting between Mercedes and Ferrari in the afternoon was no less absorbing, Rosberg and Hamilton flexing their muscles early on before Ferrari s two former world champions put in their blistering qualifying simulation times on super-soft tyres.
Raikkonen, who finished runner-up to Rosberg in Bahrain two weeks ago, had not been happy at all before setting his fast lap, snapping over the radio: "Do you really want me to keep going? Because it s absolutely shit!"
Four-time world champion Vettel placed third in last month s Australian Grand Prix as Raikkonen s engine caught fire, but in Bahrain the anguish was Vettel s as his engine blew on the out lap.
But Vettel cautioned against over-optimism.
"We had a decent day but it s only Friday so I wouldn t stress or put too much importance on the times today," said the German.
"We can still improve. One lap is good for qualifying but in a race ideally you want to have a lot of good laps in a row."
But on Friday s form at least the omens look good for Ferrari, the most successful team in China with four victories -- including the last of Michael Schumacher s record 91 race wins 10 years ago.
Mercedes for once didn t have things all their own way, with Rosberg s car suffering ignition problems and Hamilton, who has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for Sunday s race after a gearbox change, twice spinning off at turn 11.
"Something s up, I keep having this locking into turn 11," complained Hamilton after his second mishap at the hard-braking left turn.
The Briton, who has won a record four times in China, including the last two years, added afterwards: "It wasn t a bad day, but it wasn t a spectacular day. Ferrari are quick, which means we re going to have a race and that s exciting."
Felipe Massa set the tone for a bizarre morning by skidding off at turn four with a punctured left rear tyre -- before astonishingly shredding another Pirelli on the same wheel.
"Something is broke on the car," the Brazilian observed with wry understatement, before Renault s Kevin Magnussen limped back to the pits on ruined rubbers, also to his left rear.
Williams technical head Pat Symonds blamed "wheel rim failure" for Massa s issues.
