text: Ferrari, who are Ferrari? Lewis Hamilton sauntered to pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix, nearly one second ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s third-fastest Ferrari. That said, Ferrari are stronger over a long run and may yet provide a threat to Hamilton’s supremacy. Hamilton was four-hundredths of a second ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg – ‘the blink of an eyelid’, as he, the German described it. Rosberg will start second. Lewis Hamilton waves to the crowd after claiming pole for the Chinese Grand Prix. He will start ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel . Vettel, who won last time out in Malaysia, shakes hands with his countryman Rosberg as Hamilton celebrates his third pole on the spin . Hamilton stands on top of his Mercedes after he held off the challenge from his team-mate Rosberg to take pole . Lewis Hamilton salutes the crowd after claiming pole for the Chinese Grand Prix . 1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:35.782 . 2. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:35.824 . 3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 1:36.687 . 4. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1:36.954 . 5. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 1:37.143 . 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:37.232 . 7. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:37.540 . 8. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Mercedes 1:37.905 . 9. Felipe Nasr (Brazil) Sauber - Ferrari 1:38.067 . 10. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari 1:38.158 . - - - - - - - - - - . 11. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Mercedes 1:38.134 . 12. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) RedBull - Renault 1:38.209 . 13. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso - Renault 1:38.393 . 14. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso - Renault 1:38.538 . 15. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes 1:39.290 . - - - - - - - - - - . 16. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 1:39.216 . 17. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:39.276 . 18. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 1:39.280 . 19. Will Stevens (Britain) Marussia - Ferrari 1:42.091 . 20. Roberto Merhi (Spain) Marussia - Ferrari 1:42.842 . Rosberg was grim-faced afterwards. 'Come on, guys,' he moaned over the team radio after he was informed he'd missed out on pole. Hamilton was relaxed. Vettel was downcast, but said that the race may be a different story from qualifying. Hamilton set his fastest time on his penultimate lap. It was enough. Rosberg, though, got closer to Hamilton than he has recently, perhaps heeding the advice of Niki Lauda, his team chairman, who told him via Sportsmail to ‘sort himself out’. McLaren will be towards the back of the grid. Jenson Button will start 17th and Fernando Alonso 18th. Barely a hair’s breadth separated the two former champions. A naturally disappointed Button said: 'The car didn't feel bad so it's interesting when you find a good balance but the lap time is not there. We've made good improvements this weekend, but qualifying just wasn't for us. 'Hopefully we'll be racing the cars in front tomorrow, but we hoped to be competing with them in qualifying as well.' Sebastian Vettel qualified third but could threaten Hamilton's supremacy with the Ferrari stronger than Mercedes over a long run . Rosberg waves to the crowd after qualifying on the front row, but the German was clearly frustrated to have missed out on pole position . Hamilton's impressive lap on his first run on Q3 was enough to claim his third successive pole at the Chinese Grand Prix . Vettel starts ahead of Williams pair Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, with Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen down in sixth place as he struggled in Q3, with his best lap in Q2. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was seventh quickest ahead of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, with Sauber pair Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson performing superbly to claim ninth and 10th. Pastor Maldonado lines up 11th, missing out on a place in the top 10 by seven thousandths of a second, with Daniil Kvyat a surprisingly lowly and disappointing 12th in his Red Bull. Jenson Button out-qualified Fernando Alonso for the second consecutive race, but will only start 17th for McLaren . Fernando Alonso starts 18th in Shanghai and will have the Manor cars of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi for company at the back of the grid . Toro Rosso rookies Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr start 13th and 14th, with Sergio Perez 15th in a Force India that is off the pace as the team's financial issues means they will not have their new car on the grid until June. From the initial 18-minute session, Force India's Nico Hulkenberg led the list of departees, finishing three tenths of a second behind team -mate Perez. For the first time this season Manor had both cars taking part in qualifying, with both also comfortably finishing within the 107 per cent rule. Will Stevens, forced to sit out qualifying and the races in Australia and Malaysia due to issues, finally enjoyed a one-lap session. The 23-year-old Briton will start 19th, eight tenths of a second ahead of Roberto Merhi, albeit three seconds behind Alonso, underlining that whilst Manor are fighting, they still have a lot of work to do.
target: Lewis Hamilton claimed his third straight pole position of the season with a scintillating lap in Shanghai .
  Nico Rosberg was just 0.042secs slower than his Mercedes team-mate .
  German said: 'Oh, come on, guys,' when told he was slower than Hamilton for third time this season .
  Sebastian Vettel will start third with Felipe Massa fourth... Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen complete third row .
  McLaren endured another difficult day with Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso only 17th and 18th on the grid .