Shanghai: Lewis Hamilton put in a storming lap in treacherous conditions to claim a commanding pole position for today&rsquo;s Chinese Grand Prix, the Briton&rsquo;s effort ensuring Mercedes maintained their stranglehold on qualifying this season.
<img title="Lewis Hamilton" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2014/jun/L-Hamilton2004.jpg" alt="" /> Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton lapped the soaking wet 5.4 km Shanghai Circuit in one minute 53.860 seconds, to eclipse Red Bull&rsquo;s Daniel Ricciardo, who led Sebastian Vettel in what was the reigning world champion team&rsquo;s best combined qualifying result of the season so far.
Ricciardo&rsquo;s yesterday&rsquo;s result marked the third time in four races that the Australian &mdash; whose exclusion from his home race was upheld by the sport&rsquo;s appeals court earlier this week &mdash; has outqualified the reigning world champion. World championship leader Nico Rosberg, whose best time was over a second slower than his teammate&rsquo;s benchmark, will start fourth.
&ldquo;It is so slippery out there, the conditions &mdash; trying to find the grip, not making mistakes on your lap and really putting it together,&rdquo; Hamilton said.&nbsp;&ldquo;It was a tough session. I really enjoyed it. The car was feeling great. I hope that we can follow through tomorrow.&rdquo;
Reversal of fortunes In a reversal of fortunes from Bahrain a fortnight ago, when Hamilton blew his last qualifying attempt allowing teammate Rosberg to cruise to pole unchallenged, it was the German who made a series of mistakes in the dying stages of the session in China. Rosberg went wide on his penultimate attempt before wrecking his final lap with a spin while exiting the last corner.
Raikkonen struggles Ferrari&rsquo;s Fernando Alonso set the fifth fastest time even as teammate Kimi Raikkonen failing to make it through to the top-ten shootout after struggling for grip.&nbsp;Behind Alonso, the two Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas ended the session sixth and seventh ahead of Force India&rsquo;s Nico Hulkenberg.
Live Tonight Chinese GP: Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD 2, 12:30

Lewis Hamilton put in a storming lap in treacherous conditions to claim a commanding pole position for today&rsquo;s Chinese Grand Prix, the Briton&rsquo;s effort ensuring Mercedes maintained their stranglehold on qualifying this season

Lewis Hamilton takes pole at Shanghai

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Lewis Hamilton takes pole at Shanghai

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