LEWIS HAMILTON again raised hopes of a McLaren revival by topping the timesheets at the end of first practice for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hamilton did likewise ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix a week ago en route to finishing sixth at the end of a rain-lashed race.
However, the reigning world champion found himself overshadowed in second practice in Shanghai as his rivals proved his
opening gambit was something of a false dawn.
It remains to be seen if a repeat follows this afternoon, although it is known McLaren have a number of new upgrades on the car, with the team hoping to slowly claw their way back to the front.
Hamilton's hot lap was with a time of one minute 33.647 seconds for the 5.412km Sakhir circuit, today basking under 35 degree heat.
BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were 0.260secs and 0.291secs adrift in second and third places, suggesting they too might have more to offer this weekend after a woeful start.
Williams' Nico Rosberg, who has been consistently impressive in practice throughout the course of the three grands prix to date, again looked strong as he finished just over half a second down.
The German was followed by current championship leader in Brawn GP's Jenson Button, with the Briton 0.787secs down, followed by the second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen.
Rubens Barrichello, six points adrift of team-mate Button in second place in the standings, was seventh quickest, with Felipe Massa the best of the Ferraris in eighth.
The Prancing Horse marque, that has limped along this season and is in danger of not scoring a point in the opening four races for the first time in their illustrious history, have already played down their chances of a comeback this weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen finished 10th, the Finn setting exactly the same time as Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber, but with the Australian credited with ninth as he posted his relevant lap first.
Last week's race winner Sebastian Vettel was forced to settle for 12th for Red Bull, just over 1.2secs behind Hamilton, with Fernando Alonso a lowly 18th in his Renault.
The rear of the field was brought up by the Toro Rosso duo of Sebastiens Bourdais and Buemi respectively, with the latter off the pace by 1.722secs.
