Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg stormed to pole position for the Chinese GP in a mixed Saturday qualifying session for Mercedes, with World champion Lewis Hamilton left at the back of the grid after engine trouble prevented him setting a time.
The German put in a one minute 35.402 second lap to seize a 23rd career pole and first of the season as qualifying reverted back to the 2015 formula following complaints from the teams about the new system used in the two opening races.
Despite the chopping and changing in formats, Sunday’s race will be the ninth straight a Mercedes has started from the front. That put the German, who last started on pole in the 2015 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, over half-a-second clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was a surprise second.
But despite the margin of his dominance, it was a day of contrasts for the Mercedes as Hamilton ran into engine problems in the opening phase of qualifying.
Kimi Raikkonen was third quickest and Sebastian Vettel fourth in an all-Ferrari second row.
The starting grid:
1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 2. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), 4. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), 5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams), 6. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull), 7. Sergio Perez (Force India), 8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso), 9. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso), 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India).
11. Felipe Massa (Williams), 12. Fernando Alonso (McLaren), 13. Jenson Button (McLaren), 14. Romain Grosjean (Haas), 15. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber); 16. Felipe Nasr (Sauber), 17. Kevin Magnussen (Renault), 18. Esteban Gutierrez (Haas), 19. Jolyon Palmer (Renault), 20. Rio Haryanto (Manor), 21. Pascal Wehrlein (Manor) and 22. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
