Sebastian Vettel will once again start on pole position. The Red Bull driver eased to his third consecutive pole of the 2011 season by over seven-tenths.
Jenson Button will start in second, half a tenth ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Nico Rosberg enjoys Mercedes best result, a fourth place, starting ahead of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in fifth and sixth respectively.
Toro Rosso will be pleased with a brilliant performance to take seventh for Jaime Alguersuari and ninth for Sebastien Buemi, split by Paul di Resta in the Force India.
The second part of qualifying ended in chaos after Vitaly Petrov caused a red flag with just two minutes and two seconds remaining on the clock.
That led to a rush of 12 cars queuing to take to the track. Once the lights went green, a battle for position began with drivers pushing to pass one another.
Traffic meant many couldn’t improve on their times, however for Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa it mattered, with both jumping into Q3.
Mark Webber followed on from a disappointing practice session with a shock exit during Q1, joining the usual suspects of Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Jerome d’Ambrosio, Timo Glock, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan.
All drivers qualified within the 107% rule, Karthikeyan the slowest, yet over a second within the 1:41.941 cut-off.
Chinese GP Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:35.674 | 1:34.776 | 1:33.706 |
| 18. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:36.468 | ||
| 03. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:36.091 | 1:34.486 | 1:34.463 |
| 02. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:35.924 | 1:34.662 | 1:34.421 |
| 16. | N. Heidfeld | Renault | 1:35.910 | 1:36.611 | |
| 05. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:35.389 | 1:35.165 | 1:35.119 |
| 06. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:35.478 | 1:35.437 | 1:35.145 |
| 11. | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:36.092 | 1:35.874 | |
| 17. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:36.121 | 1:36.956 | |
| 13. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:36.147 | 1:36.236 | |
| 12. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:36.046 | 1:36.053 | |
| 10. | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:35.370 | 1:35.149 | |
| 15. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:35.911 | 1:36.465 | |
| 14. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:35.508 | 1:36.457 | |
| 04. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:35.272 | 1:35.850 | 1:34.670 |
| 09. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:36.110 | 1:35.500 | 1:36.203 |
| 07. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:36.133 | 1:35.563 | 1:36.190 |
| 08. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:35.702 | 1:35.858 | 1:36.190 |
| 20. | J. Trulli | Team Lotus | 1:38.318 | ||
| 24. | N. Karthikeyan | Hispania | 1:40.445 | ||
| 19. | H. Kovalainen | Team Lotus | 1:37.894 | ||
| 21. | J. d’Ambrosio | Virgin | 1:39.119 | ||
| 22. | T. Glock | Virgin | 1:39.708 | ||
| 23. | V. Liuzzi | Hispania | 1:40.212 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:41.941 | ||||
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