Formula One: Hamilton storms to record pole in China

Lewis Hamilton convincingly snared pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix today as he put himself in line to win three races in a row for the first time and seize control of the championship.
Under steady rain, the British Mercedes driver was untouchable as he powered to 1min 53.860sec, his third pole position in four races this season and more than half-a-second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.
Australian driver Ricciardo again out-qualified his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel, the four-time defending world champion, who was third in 1:54.960.
Hamilton's team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg could only manage fourth place in the slippery conditions as he ran wide on the last bend of his final flying lap and spun spectacularly.

It was the 34th pole position of Hamilton's F1 career, eclipsing the record set by the legendary Scot Jim Clark back in the 1960s, and provided more evidence that he could dominate this season.
"It's definitely more satisfying when it's wet. It's so slippery out there," Hamilton told reporters, revealing that he might have gone even quicker but for a small mistake.

"Our car is great. The lap could have been faster because I lost a little bit of time through turn 10 and I was like: 'How are the times looking?' So I'm ecstatic, really happy."
Despite winning the last two races, Hamilton still trails Rosberg by 11 points in the drivers' championship but the German will now have to start behind both Red Bulls as well as his team-mate.

"Cool, alrighty," exclaimed Ricciardo, when told over team radio he was on the front row for just the second time in his career.
"Right at the end of Q3 I managed to pull something out," he explained later. "I wasn't really comfortable so we made a couple of changes for that last run and, yeah, I put everything out there on that last lap."
Rosberg complained of being off the pace throughout qualifying. "I was generally not quick enough today. I've been struggling with braking," he said. "I was trying a little bit too hard in the end.