Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap ever recorded in Shanghai to seize a hard-won pole position in qualifying for Sunday's Chinese GP
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton during the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Saturday. Pic/AFP
Shanghai: Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap ever recorded in Shanghai to seize a hard-won pole position in qualifying for Sunday's Chinese GP.
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The triple champion set a blistering pace of one minute, 31.678 seconds in his Mercedes, beating Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by just 0.186 seconds. His teammate Valtteri Bottas, who has stepped into the seat vacated by retired champion Nico Rosberg, was an even narrower 0.001 seconds further adrift in third.
"We knew it was going to be close," Hamilton told reporters after the session.
"And it was going to mean we would have to pull out all the stops and really have a very, very perfect lap, you know, a solid lap. I managed to just chip away at it from session to session. But the last lap was my best lap," he added.
Yesterday's pole was the 63rd of Hamilton's career, which is just two short of boyhood idol Ayrton Senna's haul and five behind Michael Schumacher's overall record of 68.
It was also his sixth in Shanghai, making him only the third driver after Schumacher and Senna to take six poles at the same Grand Prix.
Formula One has introduced sweeping rule changes this year aimed at making cars faster, more spectacular and harder to drive. The overhaul clearly had the desired changes with Hamilton's lap, the fastest ever recorded in Shanghai, beating Michael Schumacher's previous outright best set in 2004 by over half-a-second.
But it didn't come easy as Mercedes were hotly pursued by Ferrari.
Australian GP winner Sebastian Vettel, set a scorching pace in the final session ahead of qualifying yesterday. The German and teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who ended up fourth, also topped the opening two phases of the three-part qualifying session.
63 No. of pole positions secured by F1 ace Lewis Hamilton
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