SHANGHAI - BRITAIN'S Lewis Hamilton led the way from title rival Felipe Massa in opening practice on Friday for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season.

World championship leader Hamilton has received severe criticism from several of his fellow drivers that he is too aggressive on the track, a claim which he had rejected.

The McLaren driver, 23, also did his talking on the 5.45 kilometre track at the Shanghai International Circuit with a best time of one minute 35.630sec, almost 0.4sec quicker than Massa's Ferrari.

Hamilton, bidding to become the youngest champion in Formula One history, leads the Brazilian by five points with two rounds of the 18-race season left.

Massa's team-mate and outgoing champion Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest despite a brief spin off the circuit with fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen fourth in the other McLaren Mercedes.

Poland's Robert Kubica, 12 points behind Hamilton and the only other driver still in contention for the title, was fifth fastest in his BMW Sauber, almost 0.9sec off the pace.

Renault's two-time former champion Fernando Alonso, winner of the last two races, was sixth quickest.

But the Spaniard's Brazilian team-mate Nelson Piquet suffered the same fate as Hamilton in last year's race when sliding into the gravel coming into the pit-lane.