Following Red Bull Racing’s 1-2 finish in Sepang, the duo did a repeat of that on the Chinese grid, with the German clinching pole position in the last seconds of the qualifying session. Vettel spent most of Q1 and Q2 in between 5th and 10th place, but pushed hard at the right time and will have a clear track ahead of him on Sunday.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will start the Chinese Grand Prix from 3rd place, after challenging for the top spots in qualifying throughout the day. Joining him on the 2nd row will not be a McLaren driver but a Mercedes one, in the person of Nico Rosberg.
Jenson Button scored the 5th best time in Q3 on Saturday, despite the fact that it was his teammate Lewis Hamilton that dominated the entire Q1 and Q2. The 2008 F1 champion failed to make a great impression during his last stint in Q3 and had to settle for a poor 6th place, ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Renault’s Robert Kubica.
Michael Schumacher, who nearly missed the Q3 entry after some late surges from Rubens Barrichello and Adrian Sutil, will start the Sunday race from 9th place, ahead of Force India’s Adrian Sutil.
Williams’ veteran Rubens Barrichello was close to score his 3rd Q3 entry this season in the dying stages of Q2, but a quick lap from Sutil put an end to his hopes and the Brazilian will take the 11th spot on the grid tomorrow. Joining him on the 6th row will be Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari, who once again managed to top his teammate Sebastien Buemi (13th). Vitaly Petrov, Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Hulkenberg and Pedro de la Rosa completed the Top 17 on the grid.
Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi provided the first shock of the day, as the Italian failed to get past Q1 on Saturday, joining the newly-entrants in the last part of the grid. He’ll start from 18th tomorrow, while followed by Virgin’s Timo Glock, Lotus’ Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, Virgin’s Lucas di Grassi and HRT duo Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok.
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