Magical Lewis Hamilton strikes gold in Chinese GP qualifying

A sublime Lewis Hamilton obliterated the field in the driving rain to take pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix.

After all the battles in the court-room between Red Bull and Mercedes this week, the Silver Arrows were able to to prove once again on the track which team has the fastest car in the paddock.

In Bahrain it was the duel in the desert, but any chances for a re-match in China seemed to have been completely dismissed by the immense Hamilton.

The Englishman was over half a second quicker than Daniel Ricciardo, and put over a second on his German teammate Nico Rosberg - who finished the session pointing in the wrong direction.

Q1 produced no surprises with Hamilton quickest from the fast charging Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India.

In Q2 on a drying track the cars changed to intermediate tyres, again it was the Mercedes and Red Bull’s which were out front.

It was a miserable day for Kimi Räikkönen who despite all the upgrades that the Ferrari team put in place this weekend - and in front of his new boss Marco Mattiacci - could only manage 11th.

McLaren also seemed to suffer with both of their drivers unable to reach Q3, the Woking based team now appear to be going backwards following an impressive start to the season.

Going into Q3 it looked as if the battle would be between Mercedes and Red Bull but the unstoppable Hamilton made it a perfect qualifying by finishing top in each of the three sessions.

As for the world championship leader Rosberg, it was a difficult top ten shootout, he ran wide on one of his flying laps and on the other he span coming out of the final corner.

It all meant a disappointing fourth place and in the race tomorrow he will have to clear the two Red Bull’s before trying to track down his teammate - who could be long gone into the sunset by that point.

As for Fernando Alonso, it was the story of his last few seasons, it seemed as if he squeezed every last bit of performance he possibly could out of his Ferrari yet could only manage fifth.

Massa and Bottas qualified behind in sixth and seventh on the grid respectively, which represents a good platform for the Williams to build on in race day.

Yet this was Hamilton’s day and barring ill fortune on race day, the Englishman seems destined to make it three wins on the bounce in his irresistible Mercedes.

Full Qualifying Results