Hamilton takes pole in Shanghai

SHANGHAI -- Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took his third pole in a row the season as he led a one-two finish for Mercedes in the qualifying session for Sunday's F1 Chinese Grand Prix here on Saturday.

The 30-year-old Briton has been enjoying a perfect weekend so far in Shanghai, sitting on top in all the three practice sessions before lapping in one minute 35.782 to grab the pole position.

German driver Nico Rosberg trailed 0.042 second to join Hamilton in the front row, while Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who stunned the Mercedes duo to win in Malaysia two weeks ago, came in third on 1:36.687.

Williams' Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were fourth and fifth respectively and Finland's Kimi Raikkonen took the sixth position in the other Ferrari car.

As the defending champion in Shanghai, Hamilton has registered three victories here, namely in 2008, 2011 and 2014, since the launching of Chinese GP in 2004.

Chinese Grand Prix is the third race in F1 2015 calendar. Hamilton enjoyed the pole position in both of the previous two races but was outraced by the former world champion Vettel in Malaysia after leading all the way to win the season opener in Melbourne.