Lewis Hamilton will start the Chinese Grand Prix in pole position for Mercedes, his first pole with his new team since leaving McLaren for the 2013 season.
The Brit posted a 1:34.484 to easily take the top spot ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in second. The Finn was just under three tenths slower than Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso will start third ahead of the second Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, who split the Ferraris with Felipe Massa sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo was the surprise package of the session as he managed to not only progress through to Q3, but he will start seventh, albeit helped by the strategic calls from Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg – all of which opted not to set a timed lap so they can start the race on the harder compound.
Force India had a disappointing day after showing some promise during the previous races and practice sessions. Paul di Resta starts 11th whilst team-mate Adrian Sutil could only manage 13th.
Mark Webber qualified a lowly 14th thanks to a drop in fuel pressure which saw him pull off the circuit during the second shoot-out. He might not even start that high if the scrutineers can’t extract the required one litre fuel sample.
Jules Bianchi once again spearheaded Marussia’s campaign and put himself ahead of Max Chilton and the Caterhams.
Qualifying – 2013 Chinese Grand Prix
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:36.537 | 1:35.343 | |
| 14 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:36.148 | 1:36.679 | |
| 08 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:36.667 | 1:35.784 | |
| 12 | S. Perez | McLaren | 1:36.952 | 1:36.314 | |
| 06 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:36.929 | 1:36.065 | 1:35.364 |
| 04 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:33.959 | 1:35.537 | 1:34.861 |
| 03 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:36.253 | 1:35.148 | 1:34.788 |
| 02 | K. Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:37.046 | 1:35.659 | 1:34.761 |
| 01 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:35.793 | 1:35.078 | 1:34.484 |
| 10 | N. Hulkenberg | Sauber | 1:36.985 | 1:36.261 | |
| 05 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:35.972 | 1:35.403 | 1:34.933 |
| 11 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:37.478 | 1:36.287 | |
| 13 | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:37.349 | 1:36.405 | |
| 17 | V. Bottas | Williams | 1:37.769 | ||
| 16 | J-E. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:37.508 | 1:37.199 | |
| 07 | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:36.993 | 1:36.258 | 1:35.998 |
| 15 | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:37.281 | 1:37.139 | |
| 18 | E. Gutierrez | Sauber | 1:37.990 | ||
| 19 | J. Bianchi | Marussia | 1:38.780 | ||
| 20 | M. Chilton | Marussia | 1:39.537 | ||
| 22 | G. van der Garde | Caterham | 1:39.660 | ||
| 21 | C. Pic | Caterham | 1:39.614 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:42.498 | ||||
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