Hamilton takes pole in Chinese GP

The Shanghai clouds had a Silver Arrows lining in qualifying for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, who recorded their 63rd and 75th pole positions respectively, albeit by less than two-tenths of a second.

Max Verstappen does not expect to repeat his wet-weather heroics from Brazil a year ago, when he starts what is predicted to be a rain-hit Chinese Formula One Grand Prix from near the back of the grid on Sunday.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland arrives at the paddock before the practice session for the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China, Saturday, April 8, 2017.

In fourth was Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen, with a qualifying time of 1:32.140.

Fernando Alonso’s hopes of ending his McLaren nightmare with a move to Mercedes have been dismissed by Lewis Hamilton after he claimed the Spaniard will not be joining him next season.

Sunday’s race will see Vettel going all out to cement Ferrari’s credentials as genuine title contender with a second successive win, after his triumph in the season-opening race in Australia. Vettel was the last of the foursome to start his final flying lap. It’s awesome to fight like this, as you are pushed to raise the bar every time you go out.

While Vettel doubts Ferrari can offer a step in performance between its qualifying and race pace, he is confident that the SF70H auto will be strong regardless, even if rain hits Shanghai as expected for Sunday. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), 3. Overall it’s not too bad, it’s just small things and small things make a big difference in lap time.

“I just want to enjoy driving and pass some people”.

“I managed to chip away at it from session to session with no major issues and the last lap was my best which is always the plan – sometimes it’s in another session”.

You can watch the Chinese Grand Prix on Sky Sports F1, coverage starts from 6am. The Ferrari was on softs while Hamilton was on the most favored tire of this session – the supersoft.

The wider and heavier cars designed in the off-season under new F1 rules were meant to lead to faster times, but the difference in qualifying times compared to previous year was striking nonetheless. The auto might need to be put in different places but I will still drive like I always do. That’s a shame but the race is tomorrow. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), 6.

Vettel just barely edged his teammate, Raikkonen, who set a time of 1:33.389. It’s more exciting than ever for me, we’re really fighting, this is what racing is all about. “They’re super quick at the moment”.

Outsiders for the top six, or even the podium, could possibly include Felipe Massa in his Williams or one of the Toro Rosso twins, Russian Daniil Kvyat or Frenchman Carlos Sainz Junior.

Antonio Giovinazzi impressed on his last-minute call-up to replace the unfit Pascal Wehrlein in Melbourne, but the Italian was brought back down to earth here after he crashed out.

“The Ferraris have a very strong auto and there is a step up in the race pace and how they treat their tyres, especially when it’s warm”.

Verstappen is poised to start on the back row of the grid as a result and is set to show whether overtaking really is possible in the new cars.

F1 officials halted Friday’s runs because poor visibility would have prevented the race’s medical helicopter from being able to safely land at designated hospitals in the event of a crash requiring an evacuation.