Chinese GP: Hamilton claims third pole in a row in Shanghai

41st career pole position for Lewis Hamilton, who beat team-mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.042s and became the 4th driver after Senna, Fangio & Schumacher to claim 5+ poles at a single track.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel followed in third place, ahead of both Williams with Felipe Massa fourth and Bottas fifth. Kimi Raikkonen was sixth.

Qualifying had both Manor Marussias within the 107% time - so they will race tomorrow as planned in a good effort by the team. With them both McLarens and Nico Hulkenberg were eliminated in Q1.

Moving into the second part of quali, it was Maldonado, Kvyat, Verstappen, Sainz and Perez which failed to get into the top ten and were eliminated. It was at this stage Hamilton set the first super-time with the fastest in the weekend up to that point.

Then into the Q3 shootout it was all Hamilton with his best time in his first time and provisional (ultimately confirmed) pole. Ferrari struggled a bit with Raikkonen and couldn’t secure third and fourth place, and Ricciardo moved his Red Bull after the Mercs, Ferraris and Williams in seventh position.

Qualifying top ten:
1. Hamilton — 1:35.782
2. Rosberg — +0.042
3. Vettel — +0.905
4. Massa — +1.172
5. Bottas — +1.361
6. Raikkonen — +1.450
7. Ricciardo— +1.758
8. Grosjean — +2.123
9. Nasr — +2.285
10. Ericsson — +2.376