Dominant Mercedes will look to ­capitalize on fresh woes at Red Bull and Ferrari and hammer home their championship advantage with a fourth straight win at Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

Three victories out of three, including one-two finishes in Malaysia and Bahrain, tell the story but the Silver Arrows also received boosts this week from two of their main rivals.

Ferrari were left reeling after team principal Stefano Domenicali quit ­following a torrid start to the season, ­including a poor showing in Bahrain.

And Red Bull were handed a setback when they lost their appeal against the stripping of 18 points from Daniel ­Ricciardo for a fuel-flow violation in Melbourne.

Both incidents will have only heightened the mood at Mercedes, who are top of the constructors' standings and have Nico Rosberg leading the drivers' table ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

And with Hamilton a three-time ­winner at the Shanghai International Circuit, they will be confident of another big points haul this weekend.

Hamilton's wheel-to-wheel duel with Rosberg in Bahrain provided this year's best action and a welcome break from discussion of Formula One's technical changes and quiet new hybrid ­engines.

But much of the focus will again be off the track as Ferrari's untried new team principal Marco Mattiacci, who moves over from the Italian company's road car business, makes his F1 debut.

His first task will be to establish the Prancing Horse as the "best of the rest," according to engineering director Pat Fry. They are currently fifth in the constructors' standings.

"Currently, our first priority is to establish ourselves as the second best team," Fry told the team website.

Red Bull have promised to move on from their disappointment over the ­Ricciardo appeal, which was quashed at a special hearing in Paris.

"I'm stronger for it & hungrier than ever. Not that I need any more motivation, I'm pumped!" tweeted the Australian, who was disqualified from ­second at his home Grand Prix for a fuel ­infringement.

Red Bull are a lowly fourth in the constructors' championship, a massive 76 points behind Mercedes who have streaked away by claiming 111 points out of a maximum possible 129.

Four-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel is in an unaccustomed sixth place in the title race, but will hope to start clawing his way into contention in Shanghai.

"The Grand Prix in China is still something special for me, because I won my first race there with Red Bull Racing in 2009," Vettel said.

Agencies - Global Times
Newspaper headline: Rivals' woes provide Mercedes confidence