Lewis Hamilton takes the pole for the Chinese Grand Prix.
With this result Lewis Hamilton becomes the best British qualifier in formula 1, surpassing Jim Clark’s record of pole positions.
Hamilton went quickest in the first and third sectors as he posted a 1:53.860, over a second faster than Rosberg and ultimately far quicker than anything anyone would manage. Behind him Ricciardo was unable to get within half a second of Hamilton but, notably, out-qualified Vettel with a blistering final lap. Rosberg may well have locked out the front row with Hamilton but he ran wide at Turn 14 on his penultimate run, before spinning out of the final corner at the end of his last flying lap.
Fernando Alonso took fifth, keeping him well placed to build on his impressive practice form in the race, but team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was the highest profile casualty of Q2 as he could only manage to come home in 11th, with Jenson Button also failing to make it into the final qualifying session. Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas ended a trend of Williams struggling in the wet this season by qualifying sixth and seventh respectively, while Nico Hulkenberg could only manage eighth. Team-mate Sergio Perez, who claimed a podium in Bahrain, was another who failed to emerge from Q2.