Daniil Kvyat is unfazed by starting his home race alongside Sebastian Vettel and says he will give the Ferrari driver and his rivals "no mercy" as always.

Kvyat was on the receiving end of an angry Vettel tirade in China, with the Ferrari driver blaming the Russian for his own contact with teammate Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner. Vettel finished qualifying in second position on Saturday afternoon but start the race in seventh after a gearbox penalty, putting him on the fourth row with Kvyat's Red Bull.

When asked if it could be another issue this weekend, he replied: "No, no... it will be a normal start I guess. I will try to do the best start possible again, and gain as many positions as possible of course. But there will be no mercy for anyone or anything like that. I don't see anything different coming as you reacting by instinct."

Kvyat hopes to take advantage of the long run down to Turn 2, which is the first proper corner after the kink in the start/finish straight.

"Yeah, it's like a five kilometre straight or something like that! It's not a problem but you can make quite a nice few manoeuvres there so it can be interesting. I think it is one of the longest runs to turn one so it will be interesting to see, of course, and we will do our best."

Williams will start the race second on fourth on the grid, while Kvyat's teammate Daniel Ricciardo will line up fifth. Kvyat thinks Mercedes power will shift the balance towards Williams over race distance.

"I think this track suits them much better. This track is not our strongest circuit, the Williams is a little bit more favourable. In the power-limited sections we are still suffering so any step forward for us would be beneficial. We know the engine guys are working on it, and they should.

"So we will see if we can get some opportunities tomorrow. If there are we will try to take them, if not we will try and finish in the best place possible so let's see what race strategy will be like."