Vettel pips Raikkonen for Chinese GP Pole

Sebastian Vettel has pipped team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to take pole position for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China as the Scuderia once again achieved an all red lockout of the front row.

Raikkonen had outpaced his Ferrari team-mate on the initial Q3 runs taking provisional pole, but in a repeat from last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying, Vettel produced a blistering last effort to clinch his 52nd career pole by less than a tenth of a second.

“The car was unbelievable and it just got better,” explained Vettel as he claimed the Scuderia’s 215th pole in the team’s history of competing in Formula 1. “I wouldn’t be surprised tomorrow if that gap disappears and it will be a tight race.”

Reigning Champion Lewis Hamilton made a mistake at the penultimate corner on his final flying lap and will start in fourth behind Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

It was a difficult day for the Silver Arrows, a team which was dominated F1’s turbo hybrid era for four years, who were beaten by half a second by rivals Ferrari in the top ten shootout.

Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo occupy the third row of the grid, qualifying in fifth and sixth place respectively while Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg takes seventh place on the grid.

Red Bull were happy taking the third row on the grid, especially with the Milton Keynes-based outfit managing to get Ricciardo out just in time to qualify after a turbo failure in practice three forced his pit crew in a race against the clock with just a few seconds to spare.

Force India’s Sergio Perez qualified in eighth place, and ahead of the other Renault RS18 of Carlos Sainz who was ninth and Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who completed the top ten.

The other Ferrari-powered VF18 Haas of Kevin Magnussen failed to make it into Q3 after a poor middle sector on his last lap hindered the Dane from improving his time and will start 11th.

This allowed Sainz to pip Magnussen with Force India’s Esteban Ocon qualifying in 12th place.

McLaren-Renault duo Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne gave each other tows in an attempt to help put both MCL33’s into Q3 but it wasn’t enough as they qualified in 13th and 14th respectively.

Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley was the slowest in Q2 with his Honda-powered STR14 qualifying 15th.

Williams Martini Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin came close giving the Grove-squad a Q2 birth and was knocked out in the last minute by Sainz who pushed the Russian down to 16th on the grid in the closing stages of Q1.

Sirotkin was looking a threat to entering Q2 but could not match his personal best effort in the first sector and ended up half a second behind Hartley.

The other Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, the hero of Bahrain, qualified a low 17th fastest, after losing time in the middle sector compared to his previous best effort, failed to make the cut, with the Frenchman admitting that his overnight setup change affected his qualifying performance.

Lance Stroll qualified 18th and ahead of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc was lucky not to crash his C37 racer after losing his rear end and spinning at the final corner in Q1 as he out qualified his Sauber team-mate Marcus Ericsson for the first time this season.

Ericsson is also under investigation from the stewards for speeding under yellows following team-mate Leclerc’s spin.

The Full Formula 1 2018 Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying Results Classification