Lewis Hamilton captured his first pole position for Mercedes in qualifying on Saturday for Sunday’s Chinese Formula One Grand Prix.
Hamilton clocked a quickest lap of 1 minute 34.484 seconds, 0.277 seconds faster than Kimi Raikkonen in a Lotus.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was third to start on the grid alongside Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg.
Red Bull’s reigning three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was ninth. The German decided not to set a lap time in Q3 after going out on medium tyres and as a result will be able to start
Red Bull teammate Mark Webber went out in the second qualifying session after running out of fuel in another disappointment for the Australian after the team orders row with Vettel at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) was fifth on the grid ahead of Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) and Jenson Button (McLaren), while Bico Huelkenberg (Sauber) was 10th behind Vettel.