Chinese GP: Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 as Mercedes struggles

Raikkonen looked set to top qualifying after setting the fastest time on the first runs in Q3, and was ahead of his teammate in the first two sectors of his final lap.

But Raikkonen's slow pace in the final sector gave Vettel a shot and the German set the best final sector time of the session to snatch pole by 0.087s.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes drivers also set their Q2 times using the soft Pirellis, so will start the race on that compound while the rest of the top 10 will all use ultrasofts.

The Mercedes drivers never looked to be a serious pole position threat, with neither Valtteri Bottas nor Lewis Hamilton able to improve on their first-run times in Q3 and both having to abandon their final runs.

Bottas was third, half-a-tenth faster than Hamilton, with the latter only 0.12s faster than the lead Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

Daniel Ricciardo was sixth after joining the first segment of qualifying late thanks to a turbo problem in free practice, lapping 0.152s slower than his teammate.

Nico Hulkenberg was best-of-the rest for Renault. 1.473s off the pace, ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.

Romain Grosjean was slowest in Q3, ending qualifying tenth and 0.036s off Sainz's Renault.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was eliminated in Q2 for the first time this season after a poor middle sector on his final lap prevented him from improving on his first-run time.

This allowed Sainz to relegate him to 11th place by 16 thousandths of a second, with Force India's Esteban Ocon not far behind.

The McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne gave each other a tow on the long back straight, but it wasn't enough to haul the Renault-powered cars into Q2 and left them 13th and 14th respectively.

Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley was slowest in Q2 and ended up 15th, just under three tenths slower than Vandoorne.

Sergey Sirotkin was knocked out in Q1 at the last minute when Sainz jumped up the order lap and pushed the Williams driver down to 16th place in the dying moments of the first stage of qualifying.

The Russian had looked to be a serious Q2 threat, but failed to match his personal best pace in the first sector and ended up half-a-tenth slower than Hartley.

Bahrain GP hero Pierre Gasly was 17th fastest, giving away enough time in the middle sector relative to his previous best to fail to make the cut, admitting after the session that overnight set-up changes had made life more difficult for him today.

Lance Stroll, in the second Williams, was 18th fastest ahead of the Sauber of Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc survived a spin after losing the rear on the power exiting the final left-hander on his second run to relegate teammate Marcus Ericsson to last on their final runs thanks to the Swede's poor final sector pace.

Ericsson has been summoned by the stewards for an investigation into not slowing under the yellow flags thrown for Leclerc's spin.

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Time	Gap
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	1'31.095
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	1'31.182	0.087
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	1'31.625	0.530
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	1'31.675	0.580
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	1'31.796	0.701
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	1'31.948	0.853
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	1'32.532	1.437
8	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	1'32.758	1.663
9	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	Renault	1'32.819	1.724
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	1'32.855	1.760
11	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari	1'32.986	1.891
12	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes	1'33.057	1.962
13	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Renault	1'33.232	2.137
14	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Renault	1'33.505	2.410
15	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	Honda	1'33.795	2.700
16	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	Mercedes	1'34.062	2.967
17	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	Honda	1'34.101	3.006
18	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	1'34.285	3.190
19	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	Ferrari	1'34.454	3.359
20	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	1'34.914	3.819