2015 CHINESE GP: MERCEDES AMG TO FAST ON QUALIFYING DAY

Mercedes AMG driver Lewis Hamilton continued his clean sweep of pole positions throughout the 2015 season and claimed his fifth pole in China. His team mate Nico Rosberg lines up alongside him on the grid tomorrow, just 0.042 seconds behind. Sebastian Vettel will start from the second row in his Ferrari, third fastest with a 1.36.687. Kimi Raikkonen is sixth, separated from his team-mate by the Williams duo of Massa and Bottas.

Daniel Ricciardo was sixth fastest driver, 0.6s behind Kimi. Daniil Kvyat, his team-mate, failed to reach Q3 for the second time in three appearances, taking 12th. Romain Grosjean was eighth for Lotus, while his team-mate Pastor Maldonado missed out on Q3 by just 0.007s and will start 11th. Sauber was the midfield underdog starring in Q3 this time, securing the fifth row places with Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.

By contrast the Toro Rossos were left out in Q2. Max Verstappen, who locked up heavily on his last run, and Carlos Sainz Jr share row seven. McLaren's encouraging Friday times proved deceptive as Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso found themselves out in Q1 and on row nine, just 0.004s apart. They were at least within a tenth of the Force Indias.

Nico Hulkenberg only got ahead of Button with a final Q1 effort, while Sergio Perez scraped through into Q2 then languished seven tenths off the Toro Rossos. The Manor-run Marussias were 3s off the tail of the field but made the 107 per cent target in Q1 so are both clear to start the race, Will Stevens ahead of Roberto Merhi.

Asphalt temperatures peaked at 35 degrees today, which was by some margin the warmest track temperature seen so far in China this year. Similar conditions are expected for the race at 2pm tomorrow, with a negligible risk of rain.

P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME	GAP	TYRE	LAPS
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:35.782		SOFT	12
2.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:35.824	+  0.042	SOFT	12
3.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:36.687	+  0.905	SOFT	17
4.	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:36.954	+  1.172	SOFT	15
5.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:37.143	+  1.361	SOFT	15
6.	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:37.232	+  1.450	SOFT	17
7.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:37.540	+  1.758	SOFT	18
8.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:37.905	+  2.123	SOFT	20
9.	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:38.067	+  2.285	SOFT	16
10.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:38.158	+  2.376	SOFT	15
Q2	FASTEST TIME	LEWIS HAMILTON		1:36.423
11.	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	1:38.134	+  1.711		13
12.	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull Racing	1:38.209	+  1.786		13
13.	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	1:38.393	+  1.970		14
14.	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:38.538	+  2.115		14
15.	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:39.290	+  2.867		10
Q1	FASTEST TIME	SEBASTIAN VETTEL		1:37.502
16.	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:39.216	+  1.714		6
17.	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:39.276	+  1.774		6
18.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:39.280	+  1.778		8
19.	Will Stevens	Marussia	1:42.091	+  4.589		6
20.	Roberto Merhi	Marussia	1:42.842	+  5.340		8
	Q1 107% Time	1:44.327