SHANGHAI: Lewis Hamilton swept to his first pole position for Mercedes at the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday, with Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus lining up alongside and Red Bull well down the starting grid.
In only his third race for the team he joined from McLaren, 2008 world champion Hamilton celebrated the 27th pole of his career at a circuit where he has won twice before.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will start third, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel ninth and his team mate Mark Webber starting from the back of the grid due to a fuel problem.
Mercedes, uncompetitive for most of last season, were last on pole a year ago at the same race with eventual winner Nico Rosberg. The German – whose pole was the first by a Mercedes works driver since 1955 – qualified fourth this time.
Ferrari’s Alonso will start ahead of Felipe Massa for the first time this season, denying the Brazilian the honour of being the first team mate to out-qualify the Spaniard for five consecutive races.
Massa will start fifth with Romain Grosjean sixth for Lotus. Red Bull’s championship leader Vettel will line up ninth on the grid after opting to start on the slower but longer-lasting medium tyres rather than the new soft compound used by Hamilton. Vettel did not set a time in the final session after locking a wheel under braking.
Webber, barely speaking to the German after Vettel defied team orders in Malaysia and passed him to win, was sidelined by a fuel problem during the second phase of qualifying.
The Australian was 14th fastest but was sent to the back of the grid for having insufficient fuel in the car to drive it back to the pits and provide a mandatory one litre sample. The governing FIA said in a statement that there was only 150ml left in the tank.
Both the Force India drivers missed out on Q3 as Paul di Resta will begin the race from 11th place while Adrian Sutil from 13th. Di Resta said his position on the grid was not bad and scoring points was a possibility. (Reuters)