Lewis Hamilton snatches Chinese GP pole position, Sebastian Vettel second

Lewis Hamilton will start the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix on pole position after beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel during qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The Mercedes racer held provisional pole after the opening runs in Q3, before he improved with a 1:31.678 on his final attempt to secure first on the grid, ahead of Vettel.

It's was Hamilton's sixth consecutive pole position, and his sixth at Shanghai, with his pole effort the quickest ever lap at the venue.

Vettel, who led the way during the final practice session, missed out by under two tenths of a second, while Valtteri Bottas was just 0.001 seconds behind the Ferrari driver in third.

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Kimi Raikkonen was a slightly distant fourth, having been quickest in Q2 – to match the top four in Australia – with Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa next up for Red Bull and Williams respectively.

Nico Hulkenberg ended Renault's lengthy Q3 drought and qualified seventh, completing his sole lap early in the session, ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso racer Daniil Kvyat and Williams rookie Lance Stroll.

Carlos Sainz Jr. narrowly missed out on a spot in Q3 and had to settle for 11th, with Kevin Magnussen improving with his last lap but only managing 12th.

Fernando Alonso failed to improve on his second run for McLaren and ended Q2 in 13th, ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

Ericsson's team-mate, Antonio Giovinazzi, did not complete Q2 and was 15th after crashing his Sauber heavily at the final corner on his last lap of Q1. The start of Q2 was delayed while barriers were repaired.

Giovinazzi’s late accident meant several drivers were not able to improve on their final laps in Q1. Stoffel Vandoorne was the first driver eliminated in Q1, ahead of Haas driver Romain Grosjean.

Jolyon Palmer was 18th quickest while Max Verstappen reported an engine problem in Q1 and had a weighbridge call, delaying his first lap and he struggled to 19th, amid a lack of straight line speed, only ahead of Esteban Ocon.