Sebastian Vettel has taken his second consecutive pole position after beating teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the dying moments of qualifying in Shanghai. Raikkonen led the timesheets after the first runs in Q3, but ultimately lost out to Vettel.

The German's fastest time was a 1:31.095, which was less than a tenth faster than Raikkonen. Ferrari locks out the front row for the second race in succession, the first time it has achieved that feat since 2006 when Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa raced for the team.

Mercedes struggled throughout the day, with the final free practice session this morning indicating that it was Ferrari who was ahead. And when push came to shove, it was the Silver Arrows who lost out to the Prancing Horses.

Lewis Hamilton was out-qualified by his teammate Valtteri Bottas once again. It marks the second time in two weeks where the Finn has got the better of the four-time world champion, beating him in Shanghai by exactly half a tenth of a second.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes will start Sunday's race on the soft compound, having set their fastest times in Q2 on that tyre. However, Red Bull will take to the grid on the ultra soft tyre, and will line up directly behind the Mercedes duo.

Max Verstappen managed to get himself ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who was lucky to take part in qualifying. After a turbo failure in final practice this morning, his team worked to get the car ready for qualifying, sending him out in the final moments of Q1.

Renault was the only team outside of the 'big three' to get both cars into the final stage of qualifying. Nico Hulkenberg out-performed Carlos Sainz, with both driver's set to start the Grand Prix from seventh and ninth respectively.

Sergio Perez claimed Force India's best qualifying result of the year, setting the eighth fastest time. The Mexican will be looking to take his first points of the season tomorrow, as will Romain Grosjean, who completes the top ten on the timesheets.

McLaren once again failed to get a car into Q3, despite trying to use a toe down the long back straight. Fernando Alonso was ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne, but will line up in P13 and P14, having been beaten by Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon.

Brendon Hartley managed to sneak into Q2, beating his teammate Pierre Gasly, who starred last time out in Bahrain. Sergey Sirotkin will start in between the Toro Rosso duo, while Lance Stroll will take up P18 on the grid.

After securing his first points in 50 races last week, Marcus Ericsson will start the race from last place on the grid, having been beaten by Charles Leclerc at Sauber. 

Fergal Walsh