Hamilton took pole for the 3rd time in a row this season, but Nico Rosberg missed out by just 0.042 seconds. Today, Hamilton took his 5th pole at Shanghai – he joins Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio as the only drivers in F1 history to have got pole five or more times at one circuit.
Ferrari were quickest in Q1, but both Mercedes drivers completed their laps on the medium tyres whereas Ferrari were on softs. Daniil Kvyat scraped through to Q2, pushing Nico Hulkenberg out of the top 15. The two McLaren drivers failed to get into Q2, qualifying 17th and 18th. Will Stevens beat his teammate, Roberto Merhi and the two Marussia drivers fill the last row on the grid.
Hamilton was fastest in Q2, on the softs, Rosberg and Vettel were 2nd and 3rd. Both Saubers made it into Q3, pushing Kvyat into 12th and out of Q3. Verstappen qualified in 13th beating his teammate Sainz, who was 14th.
In Q3, Hamilton got a 1:35.782 on his first lap, which even he was unable to beat. Rosberg initially failed to mount a challenge with a 1:36.062 but then improved to a 1:35.824, less than half a tenth of Lewis Hamilton. He was extremely frustrated to miss out on pole by such a small amount. Vettel managed to get 3rd, ahead of Felipe Massa. Valtteri Bottas, beaten by Massa, was 5th.