Hamilton grabs third season pole at Shanghai

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton overcame wet conditions to take pole position ahead ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who was followed by teammate and four-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel in the Formula 1 Shanghai Grand Prix here Saturday.

Hamilton's one minute, 55.516 seconds at the Shanghai International Circuit was 1.125 seconds faster than Ricciardo, reports Xinhua.

It was Mecerdes' fourth straight pole of the season and the third for Hamilton with teammate Nico Rosberg finishing fourth.

Hamilton and Rosberg have wrapped up the victories in the first three races of the season for the Mercedes, who are setting the pace in the constructors standings with 111 points, 67 more than second-placed Sahara Force India.

Rosberg leads the championship on 61 points, 11 ahead of Hamilton.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso settled for fifth place, while his Finish teammate Kimi Raikkonen was out in qualifying 2 and will start from 11th place Sunday.