Chinese Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off in Shanghai by setting the pace in the opening practice session ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver finished 0.868s ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button. Button had spent the bulk of the session at the head of the order, only for Hamilton to pop up with five minutes remaining and dislodge his former McLaren team-mate from P1.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was third-fastest, just under a tenth of a second behind Button, but there were problems early in the session for the Australian driver’s team-mate, Sebastian Vettel.

After just 25 minutes the champion was forced to stop his RB10 at the side of the track, an electrical issue causing him to halt at Turn 5. The German had only completed four laps when the problem struck and he finished the session in 20th place.

Fernando Alonso gave his home fans something to feel positive about, the Spaniard guiding his Ferrari to fourth place on the morning timesheet.

Alonso was 1.1s adrift of Hamilton but a few hundredths of a second ahead of the second Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, who only managed nine laps in the session due to power unit problems. Alonso’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was sixth ahead of the second McLaren of Kevin Magnussen.

Elsewhere, Sauber reserve driver Giedo van der Garde had a dramatic moment when a brake problem sent him flying through the gravel at Turn 1, but the Dutch driver, who was deputising for Esteban Gutierrez, managed to make it back to the pits.

Sergio Perez, meanwhile, had an incident in which his left hand rear-view mirrors became detached. The Mexican had to grab hold of the mirror and hold it inside the cockpit while he made his way back to the pits.

2014 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Times
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.023 17
2 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27.891 0.868 26
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:27.973 0.950 21
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:28.128 1.105 23
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:28.168 1.145 9
6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:28.337 1.314 19
7 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:28.423 1.400 27
8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:28.744 1.721 34
9 Sergio Perez Force India 1:28.779 1.756 18
10 Felipe Massa Williams 1:28.791 1.768 13
11 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso1:28.792 1.769 24
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:28.828 1.805 17
13 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:28.859 1.836 24
14 Felipe Nasr Williams 1:29.272 2.249 15
15 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1:29.688 2.665 16
16 Jules Bianchi Marussia 1:29.820 2.797 22
17 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:29.944 2.921 21
18 Giedo van der Garde Sauber 1:30.440 3.417 22
19 Max Chilton Marussia 1:30.748 3.725 19
20 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:30.942 3.919 4
21 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:30.997 3.974 22
22 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1:31.421 4.398 22