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 The Finn, a former winner for Ferrari in China, jumped to the top
of the order with a one minute 36.896 second lap in Friday’s second
practice session, beating German team mate Vettel by a margin of
0.109 seconds.
Championship leader Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes, 0.237
seconds off Raikkonen’s benchmark.
Rosberg's team mate and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, who
heads into Saturday’s qualifying session with a five-place grid
penalty for a change of gearbox, was fourth, 0.433 seconds adrift.
Rosberg had set the fastest time ahead of Hamilton in Friday
morning’s interrupted opening session in which the Ferrari duo were
only third and fifth.
But the Maranello-based squad turned the tables on their German
rivals in the afternoon with their runs on the fastest, red-walled,
super-soft compound tire.
 Friday afternoon’s practice session was only the second time this
season that a Mercedes has not ended a session on top.
The German team has won 34 of the last 40 races and started the last
eight on pole.
Rosberg, who leads the standings by 17 points from Hamilton, heads
into Sunday’s race gunning for a sixth-straight win.
The Briton, meanwhile, is aiming to complete a hat-trick of Chinese
Grand Prix victories, even if the highest he can start the race from
is sixth.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo ended the day fifth, the Australian,
fourth in the morning, setting a time 1.247 seconds adrift.
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso, cleared by doctors to compete in
Sunday’s race after a final round of medical tests following the
morning session, was eleventh.
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The Spaniard, forced to miss the last race in Bahrain due to
injuries sustained in an accident last month in Australia, completed
a total of 42 laps over the entire day.
Friday afternoon’s running was uneventful compared to the morning’s
action.
The opening 90-minutes were headlined by two red-flag stoppages as
Williams driver Felipe Massa and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen both
suffered high-speed left-rear tire failures while running on the
soft-compound rubber.
Following an investigation, the sport’s tire supplier Pirelli
confirmed none of the failures were tire-related with a separate
technical issue responsible.
The Mercedes pair also reported problems in the morning.
Rosberg limped home near the end of the session with engine issues
while Hamilton, struggling with "locking" problems, spun twice at
turn 11.
(Editing by Patrick Johnston)
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