Sebastian Vettel on pole for Chinese Grand Prix

Vettel produced a stunning lap to qualify on pole ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen, half a second clear of Silver Arrows duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

Mr. Hamilton was Top of the time sheets on Friday, but the MercedesAMG cars could not answer Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) in qualifying with Sebastian Vettel leading a front-row lockout ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen for the 2nd weekend running. Valtteri Bottas came third.

Last year Vettel, who had problems using Verstappen, explained the crash was needless.

Both Mercedes struggled to heat their tyres in the cold climate of China, leading to both drivers setting their final times on the soft Pirellis, and will start the race surrounded by drivers on the ultrasoft compound.

Ferrari have not been victorious in Shanghai since Fernando Alonso took the flag in 2013, although Vettel was second a year ago, in a race dominated by Hamilton and Mercedes, who have won every meeting here since the turbo hybrid era began in 2014.

The Brit finished fifth on track but moved up to fourth after a 10-second penalty was applied to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following his collision with Sebastian Vettel. The auto was unbelievable and it just got better.

The McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne gave each other a tow on the long back straight, but it wasn’t enough to haul the Renault-powered cars into Q2 and left them 13th and 14th respectively.

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A Ferrari win in Shanghai would prompt more questions for Mercedes after Vettel took the first two races of the season in Australia and Bahrain to open a 17-point lead in the standings over Hamilton. I was beating myself up but I knew if I had a better lap I could do it’.

The three-time grand prix victor feels he had the speed to cover any attack from Vettel before the safety auto changed the complexion of the race. Next were the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Reflecting on the performance, Hamilton admitted it was a case of underperforming on his side of the Mercedes garage, and that a solution needs to be found quickly if he’s going to fight for a fifth title.

The tire choices were strategic for both qualifying and the race, as the top-10 drivers must start the race on the tires they used to qualify.

“To have that much of a gap is a bit of a surprise”, Vettel said.

As for the rest of them, it’s very tight and Williams and Sauber seem to be at the back again. Kevin Magnussen, who starts P11, will nearly certainly start on the soft tyre and should make some progress by running a longer first stint.

“I don’t know if we can challenge, we’re half a second behind today”, he said, hoping that expected warmer conditions on Sunday would help at a circuit where overtaking is easier than most.