Lewis Hamilton has taken first blood in his Formula One championship battle with Brazil's Felipe Massa at the Chinese Grand Prix by setting the quickest time in opening practice .
The 23-year-old McLaren driver could wrap up the title on Sunday and clocked the two quickest times.
Hamilton's 1:35.630 was nearly four tenths of a second ahead of his only rival Felipe Massa
The World champion Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest in the other Ferrari ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the other McLaren.
Hamilton was on pole as he chased the title in Shanghai last year but failed to finish the race and has been the subject of several complaints from his fellow drivers about unsafe driving at last week's Japanese Grand Prix.