|
The German lapped the 5.4-km Shanghai circuit
in one minute, 31.095 seconds -- a track record -- to pip his
Finnish team mate by a mere 0.087 seconds and take his 52nd
career pole.
Title rival Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth, ending the session
with a time slower even than third-placed Mercedes team-mate
Valtteri Bottas after aborting his final flying lap on a chilly
afternoon.
Saturday’s pole was Vettel’s second in three races this season
and Ferrari’s first in Shanghai since Brazilian Rubens
Barrichello started the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix from the
front in 2004.
The Italian glamor team last won in China in 2013.
"Thank you guys, great qualifying, great car," said Vettel, who
also started from pole in Bahrain last weekend, over the team
radio. "Really enjoyed that one."
Raikkonen locked out the front row for Ferrari for the second
time in succession.
The Finn had led the timesheets as the drivers embarked on their
final flying laps and appeared set to clinch pole position after
going fastest in the opening two sectors.
Vettel, who put in an error-strewn first attempt, then pulled
out just enough through the final corners to deny the
38-year-old what would have been his first pole since last
year’s Monaco Grand Prix.
"It was okay but not good enough," said Raikkonen after the
session. "It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but we’ll go tomorrow
and see what we can do."
Bottas's time was more than half a second slower than Vettel's.
Vettel has a 17-point lead over Hamilton after winning the
opening two races of the season.
The Briton, second in Australia and third in Bahrain, had gone
into the weekend determined to claw back at least some of his
deficit to the German at a track that Mercedes have dominated in
recent years.
The 33-year-old, like Vettel a four-times champion, has taken an
unprecedented five wins in Shanghai but recognized that his
chances of a sixth had taken a knock.
"I don't know if we can challenge, we're half a second behind
today," he said, hoping that expected warmer conditions on
Sunday would help at a circuit where overtaking is easier than
most.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified fifth ahead of team-mate
Daniel Ricciardo, who made it out on track just in time, with
the former champions working furiously to change his engine
after it blew in the final practice session.
Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Renault ahead of Force India’s
Sergio Perez.
Carlos Sainz in the other Renault was ninth with Romain Grosjean
rounding out the top 10 for Haas.
There was more misery for former champions Williams, the only
team yet to score a point after two races, who failed to make it
through the first phase and had Canadian Lance Stroll 18th and
Sergey Sirotkin 16th.
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly/Alan Baldwin)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
