Chinese GP Qualifying: Vettel Snatches Pole From Raikkonen, Hamilton In Fourth

Sebastian Vettel broke the Mercedes stronghold at the Shanghai International Circuit to take his second pole position of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday. It was Ferrari’s first at the circuit since 2004.

The Silver Arrows team had occupied pole position in every race since 2012 and after Friday practice when Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets, it looked like they will continue their dominance.

It was not to be as the Ferrari cars found the speed Saturday to top the timesheets in the third practice session and they then carried the momentum into qualifying to convincingly beat the Mercedes cars.

Kimi Raikkonen finished second for the second race in a row to make it a Ferrari 1-2, the first time they have locked out the front row in consecutive races since 2006. The Finn looked favorite to take pole position until the final seconds, but a blistering final sector from Vettel ensured he beat his teammate by 0.087 of a second with a lap time of 1:31.095.

"I was happy with the whole lap. The car was really amazing, just kept getting better,” Vettel said after qualifying on pole Saturday. "I made a few mistakes on the opening lap. I was a bit beaten up by I knew that if I got a tidy lap and a little bit of margin then I could push."

The Mercedes cars had no answer to Ferrari’s pace in qualifying with Valtteri Bottas the fastest of the Silver Arrows cars in third place with a lap time of 1:31.625. He beat his teammate Hamilton, by just 0.050 of a second.

"The car felt OK but I don't really have the answer for it,” Hamilton said after his fourth place finish in qualifying, as quoted by Sky Sports. "I think it's in the top three of the easier tracks to overtake. The Ferraris are too fast on the straight so it will be interesting.”

"It's a lot hotter tomorrow so it will be a challenge to see if we can keep up with them,” he added.

The Red Bull Racing duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo will occupy the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth place respectively. Renault’s Nico Hulkenburg was the best of the rest in seventh place ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz from Renault and Haas Racing’s Romain Grosjean, who rounded out the top 10.

Hamilton came into the race determined to beat Ferrari for the first time this season, but the Silver Arrows team struggled to get the maximum out of the ultrasoft tires in the cold temperatures in China.

Ferrari, on the other hand, showed no such problems and were able to set competitive lap times straight from the start. Vettel will be favorite to win his third race of the season, but Mercedes and Red Bull will have their chance during the 56-lap race.

The weather is expected to be hotter Sunday and Friday’s second practice session showed all three teams – Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull – were even in terms of race pace.