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Hamilton on pole for China GP

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<b>SHOWING WHAT HE'S GOT</b>Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and his team are all smiles when the Brit took his first pole position ahead of the China GP on Sunday. (April 14, 2013) <I>Image: AFP</i>
<b>SHOWING WHAT HE'S GOT</b>Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and his team are all smiles when the Brit took his first pole position ahead of the China GP on Sunday. (April 14, 2013) <I>Image: AFP</i>
SHANGHAI, China - Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on pole for the 2013 Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix on Saturday (April 13).

The Briton, who has been struggling with an allergy and went home early from the track on Thursday (April 11), left it late in the final session to grab pole ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

HAPPY CHAP

The pole was 2008 World champion Hamilton's first for Mercedes and 27th of his career. He had a best time of 1min34.484sec compared to Raikkonen's 1min34.761 and Alonso's 1min34.788. The Briton's position up front on the grid has put new faith in anybody who was doubting his abilities in the Mercedes car.

Nico Rosberg, Hamilton's Mercedes team mate whose win in Shanghai in 2012 was his first GP victory, qualified fourth, just ahead of the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

Raikkonen's team mate Romain Grosjean, Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso and Jenson Button of McLaren rounded out the top eight.

BAD DAY FOR RED BULL

Red Bull's reigning World champion Sebastian Vettel could only qualify ninth after he drove wide late on and failed to register a time in the final session. Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber was 10th.

Vettel's team mate Mark Webber, whose strained relationship with the German has put both men in the spotlight, bowed out in only the second qualifying session after his Red Bull simply stopped and he waved meekly to the crowd.

Force India's Adrian Sutil was also having problems, his team telling him over the radio in the first qualifying session that it "looks a bit of a struggle". He also failed to make it into the top 10 and qualified 13th.

Another high-profile casualty in Q2 was McLaren's Sergio Perez, who has been struggling all week for form.

Red Bull's Mark Webber, barely speaking to Vettel after a team orders row in Malaysia, was sidelined by a fuel problem in the second phase of qualifying and was knocked out of the third qualifying round for pole position.

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2013 Formula 1 season – fresh reports every day.
Final qualifying times for the 2013 Chinese Formula 1 GP in Shanghai
1 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1min34.484
2 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus 1min34.761
3 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1min34.788
4 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1min34.861
5 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1min34.933
6 Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 1min35.364
7 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso 1min35.998
8 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 2min05.673
9 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Sauber

11 Paul di Resta (Britain) Force India 1min36.287
12 Sergio Perez (Mexico) McLaren 1min36.314
13 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1min36.405
14 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 1min36.679
15 Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 1min37.139
16 Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 1min37.199

17 Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 1min37.769
18 Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber 1min37.990
19 Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia 1min38.780
20 Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia 1min39.537
21 Charles Pic (France) Caterham 1min39.614
22 Giedo van der Garde (Netherlands) Caterham 1min39.660

1-10min Third and final qualifying session
11-16min Second qualifying session
17-22min First qualifying session
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