Championship leader Nico Rosberg scored his seventh career pole position by edging out his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve.

Hamilton, who had dominated practice, setting the fastest time of Friday and then going quickest on Saturday morning, meaning he went into qualifying as the hot favourite at a track in which he enjoyed.

The Mercedes driver had topped both Q1 and Q2 but was outpaced by Rosberg by 68 thousandths of a second on their first runs in Q3 after hitting traffic in the final sector.

Rosberg then made a small improvement on his second run, but it was not necessary as a poor middle sector meant that Hamilton was unable to better his rival’s earlier lap time.

As for the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, the Red Bull driver was the best-of-the-rest, jumping from sixth to third with a strong final lap.

Williams had looked set to be the closest challenger to Mercedes, but Valtteri Bottas was unable to improve on his final run and ended up in fourth position.

His Williams team-mate Felipe Massa was fifth fastest, just ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Fernando Alonso was seventh, his Ferrari not quite showing the speed to threaten the top six at Montreal.

Jean-Eric Vergne was fastest of those who only attempted one run in Q3, shading McLaren’s Jenson Button to eighth place by two-hundredths of a second.

Kimi Raikkonen was the slowest of the Q3 runners, securing tenth place on the grid.

All of the top ten will start the race on super-soft Pirelli thanks to new-for-2014 rules dictating that drivers must use the set they set their best Q2 time on.

Nico Hulkenberg missed out on a place in Q3 by just under half-a-tenth and will start in P11.

As for Kevin Magnussen, the young Dane could only managed P12 after failing to improve on his second run.

Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat were P13, P14 and P15 respectively, with Sauber driver Adrian Sutil attempting only one run in Q2 as he had used two sets of super-softs in Q1, ending up in P16.

Pastor Maldonado was eliminated in Q1 after his Lotus ground to a halt in the closing stages.

He had just jumped Marussia pairing Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi before his car developed a technical issue.

After the highs of Monaco in scoring championship points, Jules Bianchi was unable to attempt a second run in Q1 thanks to a car problem, while Chilton had to rely on the time posted on his first run because of incidents late in the session.

Kamui Kobayashi was the faster of the Caterhams in P20 after making a good improvement on his final run, although he will be hit with a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

Team-mate Marcus Ericsson brought out a red flag with 16 seconds of Q1 remaining after crashing at the exit of the first chicane.

Esteban Gutierrez was unable to participate in qualifying following damage to the chassis sustained in a crash during Saturday morning’s free practice session.

The Sauber team is building up a car around a spare chassis for the Mexican for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.

So another Mercedes front row and yet this time, Nico Rosberg is ahead of his team-mate. Race day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will be a fascinating battle for supremacy between the Silver Arrows duo.

Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying times:

1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m14.874s
2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m14.953s
3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m15.548s
4. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes    1m15.550s
5. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes    1m15.578s
6. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault     1m15.589s
7. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m15.814s
8. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault   1m16.162s
9. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m16.182s
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari              1m16.214s
11. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m16.300s
12. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes     1m16.310s
13. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes 1m16.472s
14. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m16.687s
15. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault   1m16.713s
16. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari       1m17.314s
17. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault        1m18.328s
18. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari     1m18.348s
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari     1m18.359s
20. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault     1m19.820s
21. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       no time
22. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault     1m19.278s*

107 per cent time: 1m21.052s

*Five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change

Nico Rosberg reclaimed the lead of the Formula 1 World Championship from his Mercedes team-mate by beating Lewis Hamilton to victory around the streets of Monte Carlo.

Pre-race talk was focused on the Silver Arrows rivarly following the events that took place in qualifying. In which accusation on whether Rosberg had deliberately locked-up into the Mirabeau corner, resulting in a yellow flag period that prevented Hamilton in taking pole position.

The race stewards spent several hours investigating this incident and despite the paddock’s opinion that it was intention, they found no evidence thanks to the telemetry data and television replays.

So Nico Rosberg kept his pole position and with overtaking so difficult, he held that track position to win the Monaco Grand Prix for the second time.

Rosberg made a superb start from the grid and led Hamilton through Ste Devote.

The race was almost immediately neutralised by the Safety Car, as Sergio Perez’s Force India looped into the barriers at Mirabeau after a collision with Jenson Button’s McLaren.

Rosberg held Hamilton back at the restart and edged away slowly through the first stint as his team-mate gave chase.

A second Safety Car period, caused by Adrian Sutil crashing heavily under braking for the chicane, denied Hamilton his only realistic chance in passing Rosberg by pitting earlier than his team-mate.

Both Mercedes headed into the pits one after the other under the Safety Car, allowing Rosberg to retain the lead.

The 2008 Formula 1 world champion questioned his team’s strategy repeatedly over the radio as the drivers prepared for another restart.

Once again Rosberg controlled the restart well, and drove on unchallenged to victory, despite fears over excessive fuel consumption in the early part of the second stint.

Hamilton shadowed his Silver Arrows team-mate for most of the race, but dropped back in the closing stages after complaining he “couldn’t see” out of his left eye.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo saw this as an opportunity and closed Hamilton down, but fell short of beating him to second position by just 0.4 seconds.

The Australian thus had to be content with his second consecutive third placed finish.

Ricciardo had earlier made a slow start from third on the grid, but regained the lost ground thanks to problems for his team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Four-time world champion Vettel ran third initially after a strong start from the second row, but reported a loss of power shortly after the first restart.

Red Bull replaced parts of his Energy Recovery System unit before the race, following the ERS issue that hampered Vettel in qualifying, and the German complained of a loss of boost pressure from his Renault engine in the race.

A frustrated Vettel rejoined the action after some adjustments in the pits, but was told by the team to retire.

Raikkonen then looked as though he might claim his first podium since returning to Ferrari, having got up to fourth by passing his team-mate Fernando Alonso at the start and driving around the outside of Ricciardo’s Red Bull on the first run through Ste Devote.

But The Iceman’s race was undone by contact with Max Chilton’s Marussia during the second Safety Car period.

Chilton was trying to un-lap himself, and the resulting collision forced Raikkonen into a second stop to replace a punctured tyre on his F14 T.

This condemned the 2007 Formula 1 world champion to a recovery drive through the field, while Alonso maintained his third position in the world championship by finishing in fourth place.

Raikkonen ultimately ended up pointless after a desperate pass on Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren at Loews ended in contact with just a handful of laps remaining.

Magnussen had just been passed by team-mate Jenson Button as Hamilton and Ricciardo lapped a battle for fifth between Hulkenberg’s Force India, the two McLarens, and Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

Raikkonen spotted a chance to dive down the inside at the hairpin, but ran out of road, meaning both drivers lost ground.

Hulkenberg thus held on to claim fifth for Force India, narrowly ahead of Button, while Felipe Massa inherited seventh for Williams.

An engine failure for Valtteri Bottas, an exhaust problem for Jean-Eric Vergne, plus a crash for Esteban Gutierrez at Rascasse, not forgetting the incident between Raikkonen and Magnussen, meant Jules Bianchi crossed the finishing line an eighth for Marussia.

A five-second penalty for serving an earlier penalty for an out-of-position start under the Safety Car, means he will be demoted to ninth, but that wasn’t a main issue as Marussia was able to score their maiden points in Formula 1.

The Lotus of Romain Grosjean will thus inherit eighth, while Magnussen recovered from his incident with Raikkonen to round out the scorers in tenth.

So a fascinating intra-team battle between Rosberg and Hamilton. The Mercedes W05 is the quickest car in the field and with the Silver Arrows drivers fighting for superiority, it’s going to be exciting and thrilling contest for the rest of the season.

Monaco Grand Prix race results, after 78 laps:

1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1h49m27.661s
2.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                   +9.210s
3.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault           +9.614s
4.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                   +32.452s
5.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes        -1 lap
6.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes            -1 lap
7.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           -1 lap
8.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault               -1 lap
9.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari            -1 lap
10.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes            -1 lap
11.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault            -1 lap
12.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                     -1 lap
13.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault           -3 laps
14.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           -3 laps

Retirements:

Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari             59 laps
Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes          55 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault         50 laps
Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari             23 laps
Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault         10 laps
Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault            5 laps
Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes        0 lap
Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault               0 lap

Drivers’ championship:

1.  Nico Rosberg      122
2.  Lewis Hamilton    118
3.  Fernando Alonso   61
4.  Daniel Ricciardo  54
5.  Nico Hulkenberg   47
6.  Sebastian Vettel  45
7.  Valtteri Bottas   34
8.  Jenson Button     31
9.  Kevin Magnussen   21
10.  Sergio Perez      20
11.  Felipe Massa      18
12.  Kimi Raikkonen    17
13.  Romain Grosjean   8
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne  4
15.  Daniil Kvyat      4
16.  Jules Bianchi     2

Constructors’ championship:

1.  Mercedes              240
2.  Red Bull-Renault      99
3.  Ferrari               78
4.  Force India-Mercedes  67
5.  McLaren-Mercedes      52
6.  Williams-Mercedes     52
7.  Lotus-Renault         8
8.  Toro Rosso-Renault    8
9.  Marussia-Ferrari      2
10.  Sauber-Ferrari        0
11.  Caterham-Renault      0

Next race: Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal. June 6-8.

Nico Rosberg claimed his second successive Monaco Grand Prix pole position despite going off at the tight Mirabeau corner on his final flying lap.

The German was the faster of the Mercedes duo on the first runs in the top ten shootout, shading Lewis Hamilton by 59 thousandths of a second.

But then he made a mistake on his final Q3 lap, locking up and sliding up the escape road at Mirabeau.

But as Hamilton, who was behind Rosberg on track, was slow in the middle sector of his final lap because of the resulting yellow flags, the 2008 Formula 1 world champion was unable to attempt to defeat Rosberg.

Daniel Ricciardo continued his strong Monaco Grand Prix weekend by beating his Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel to third, with the Scuderia of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen claiming the third row.

Jean-Eric Vergne qualified seventh after winning his personal battle with McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen.

The second Toro Rosso driver, Daniil Kvyat, impressed by surviving a crash in Q1 at the chicane that ripped off his front wing by making it to Q3 in ninth, ending up ahead of Force India’s Sergio Perez.

Jenson Button, winner in Monaco in 2009, was the biggest-name casualty in Q2, ending up P12 behind Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was P13, with Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado behind him as the Lotus team continued to have a difficult weekend.

Felipe Massa ended up only P16 after being unable to participate in Q2.

The Williams driver let Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson through at Mirabeau in the closing stages of Q1, but the Swede had to correct a rear-end slide under braking for the right-hander and hit Massa, who was holding a wide line.

Both cars nosed into the barrier and neither was able to get back to the pits, although Massa did get his car going again but then ground to a halt.

This incident meant that the battle to avoid elimination in Q1 was interrupted and there were few late changes, with Sauber pairing Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil ending up P17 and P18.

Marussia pairing Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton filled the tenth row, with the Caterhams of Kamui Kobayashi and Ericsson at the back.

And yet the major talking point post-qualifying was that Rosberg incident.

There was a divided opinion in the paddock that the Silver Arrows driver had deliberately made the mistake to prevent his team-mate in scoring pole position.

Comparisons were made to a similar incident back in 2006, when Michael Schumacher parked his car at La Rascasse to stop Fernando Alonso challenging for pole. The race stewards looked into the incident then and threw Schumacher back to the end of the grid.

As for the 2014 incident, Rosberg said he made a genuine error. The stewards spent several hours investigating and in the end found no evidence of a deliberately move to prevent Hamilton from challenging to pole position.

And yet, the rivarly between Rosberg and Hamilton had just been stirred up even further following the news that more engine power was used for 2008 Formula 1 world champion to win the previous race in Spain… The Monaco Grand Prix is going to be a fascinating contest between the Silver Arrows.

Monaco Grand Prix, qualifying times:

1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m15.989s
2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m16.048s
3. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault      1m16.384s
4. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m16.547s
5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m16.686s
6. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari               1m17.389s
7. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault    1m17.540s
8. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes      1m17.555s
9. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault    1m18.090s
10. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes  1m18.327s
11. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m17.846s
12. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m17.988s
13. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes     1m18.082s
14. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m18.196s
15. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault         1m18.356s
16. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes     No time
17. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m18.741s
18. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari        1m18.745s
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari      1m19.332s
20. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari      1m19.928s
21. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault      1m20.133s
22. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault      1m21.732s

107 per cent time: 1m22.985s

Lewis Hamilton achieved his fourth successive victory in Formula 1 after holding off a late challenge from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows were in a class of their own, with more than a second per lap over their rivals.

Hamilton nailed the start from pole position and held a lead through the early stages.

Rosberg attempted an alternative strategy compared to Hamilton, by running three laps longer in the first stint and switching to Pirelli’s hard tyre rather than taking another set of the mediums on which they both started.

The race appeared to hinge on whether Rosberg could stay within a couple of seconds of Hamilton through his stint on the slower tyre, in order to jump him with an earlier final pit-stop.

But Hamilton stayed out of reach and was four seconds up when Mercedes decided to pit him for the final time on lap 43 of 66.

That gave him track position for the final stint, but the penalty of 23 laps on the slower tyre, while Rosberg faced the prospect of trying to catch and pass his team-mate on-track with his final set of the quicker tyres.

Rosberg was able to edge closer to the leader in the final laps, but fell short by just 0.6 seconds. This result means Hamilton is now the new championship leader. The first time since he won the Canadian Grand Prix of 2012.

Behind the dominant Mercedes cars, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo claimed his maiden podium finish in Formula 1 by taking third.

The Williams of Valtteri Bottas held that position initially, after an excellent start from fourth on the grid, but was jumped at the first round of pitstops and was powerless to prevent the Red Bull of reigning champion Sebastian Vettel jumping him for fourth at Turn 10 in the closing stages.

The four-time world champion drove a brilliant race from P15 on the grid to finish only one place behind his team-mate.

Red Bull pitted Vettel early to get him out of sequence with the rest, and the German made full use of an aggressive three-stop strategy to climb the order, producing some bolshy overtaking moves when required.

Home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso used a similar three-stop strategy to beat Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to sixth position.

Raikkonen delivered his strongest performance of the season relative to his team-mate, but was powerless to prevent Alonso passing on fresher tyres in the late stages of the race, despite making it as difficult as he reasonably could.

Romain Grosjean delivered the first points of the season to the Lotus team by bringing the twin-tusk E22 home in eighth position.

The Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg claimed the final points on offer by jumping the slow McLaren of Jenson Button at the start and rounding out the top ten.

A three-stop strategy did work out for Felipe Massa, who started ninth but trailed home in P13 behind the McLaren pairing of Button and Kevin Magnussen.

So a fantastic result for Mercedes. Five out of five for the Brackley-based team, with Lewis Hamilton achieving his fourth race win in a row. Can the Silver Arrows be beaten? It’s going to be a challenge for the others to catch up.

Spanish Grand Prix race results, after 66 laps:

1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1h41m05.155s
2.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes                   +0.636s
3.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault          +49.014s
4.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault        +1m16.702s
5.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes       +1m19.293s
6.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                 +1m27.743s
7.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                     +1 lap
8.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault               +1 lap
9.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes        +1 lap
10.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes        +1 lap
11.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes            +1 lap
12.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes            +1 lap
13.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           +1 lap
14.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault          +1 lap
15.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault               +1 lap
16.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
17.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
18.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari           +2 laps
19.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           +2 laps
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault           +2 laps

Retirements:

Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault           34 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault         24 laps

Drivers’ championship:

1.  Lewis Hamilton    10
2.  Nico Rosberg      97
3.  Fernando Alonso   49
4.  Sebastian Vettel  45
5.  Daniel Ricciardo  39
6.  Nico Hulkenberg   37
7.  Valtteri Bottas   34
8.  Jenson Button     23
9.  Kevin Magnussen   20
10.  Sergio Perez      20
11.  Kimi Raikkonen    17
12.  Felipe Massa      12
13.  Romain Grosjean   4
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne  4
15.  Daniil Kvyat      4

Constructors’ championship:

1.  Mercedes              197
2.  Red Bull-Renault      84
3.  Ferrari               66
4.  Force India-Mercedes  57
5.  Williams-Mercedes     46
6.  McLaren-Mercedes      43
7.  Toro Rosso-Renault    8
8.  Lotus-Renault         4
9.  Sauber-Ferrari        0
10.  Marussia-Ferrari      0
11.  Caterham-Renault      0

Next race: Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo. May 22-25.

The battle between the Mercedes drivers heats up with Lewis Hamilton claiming his 35th career pole position in Formula 1 at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The 2008 world champion denied his team-mate Nico Rosberg in the top ten shootout despite the fact Rosberg was quickest in both Q1 and Q2.

And yet Hamilton delivered when it mattered in Q3 to grab the top spot by 0.168 seconds in a tense final-lap duel.

With Mercedes continuing to dominate, the rest were fighting for third and it was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who emerged as best of the rest, even though it was a second off from Hamilton.

Valtteri Bottas qualified fourth for Williams, comfortably ahead of Romain Grosjean, who continued the recent upward trend for Lotus E22 with fifth position.

The Ferraris lapped at a similar pace, ending up sixth and seventh with Kimi Raikkonen shading team-mate and crowd favourite Fernando Alonso.

McLaren’s Jenson Button qualified in eighth ahead of Felipe Massa. The latter looking set for a stronger grid position but for a disappointing Q3 lap in the Williams.

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel will start in tenth after being unable to complete a lap during Q3. His Red Bull RB10 grind to a halt before his run, prompting a red flag.

Nico Hulkenberg was fastest of the drivers to fail to make the top ten shootout. The Force India driver was bumped out of the Q3 slots by Bottas late on, despite being less than a tenth slower than home hero Alonso, who just scraped through.

Sergio Perez qualified in P12 ahead of Daniil Kvyat and Esteban Gutierrez, while Kevin Magnussen is classified as P15 despite not running in Q2 following an engine problem striking his McLaren.

Jean-Eric Vergne was P16 despite not running on track and will drop a further ten places on the grid for shedding a wheel during Friday afternoon practice session.

Adrian Sutil, who complained about a problem with his Sauber over the team radio, was the fastest of those who failed to escape Q1.

He was bumped down to P17 in the last few seconds of the first segment of qualifying by Button, who put on the quicker medium Pirelli in order to ensure he was not knocked out.

Max Chilton was P18, outqualifying his Marussia team-mate Jules Bianchi by six tenths of a second, with Marcus Ericsson doing a good job in the lead Caterham to end up just ahead of Kamui Kobayashi.

As for Pastor Maldonado, the Lotus driver will start last after crashing even before starting his flying lap.

So a great comeback from Lewis Hamilton after being outpaced by Nico Rosberg in the first two segments of qualifying. It’s going to be fascinating contest to see which Mercedes driver will have the advantage in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Qualifying positions, Circuit de Catalunya:

1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m25.232s
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.400s
3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m26.285s
4. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m26.632s
5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m26.960s
6. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m27.104s
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m27.140s
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m27.335s
9. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m27.402s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m27.685s
11. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m28.002s
12. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m28.039s
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.280s
14. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes No time
15. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault No time*
16. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.563s
17. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m29.586s
18. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m30.177s
19. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m30.312s
20. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m30.375s
21. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault No time
22. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault No time**

107 per cent time: 1m32.837s

*Five-pace penalty for gearbox change
**Ten-place penalty for unsafe release

Lewis Hamilton achieved his hat trick of victories this season with a dominant victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.

This result equals Niki Lauda’s record of 25 wins in Formula 1 and Hamilton is slowly closing the gap to championship leader Nico Rosberg to four points.

Hamilton dominated the race from pole position, while Mercedes team-mate Rosberg had to battle through to second after a slow start.

Australian Grand Prix winner Rosberg started fourth behind the Red Bulls, but drop down to seventh after a sluggish getaway and was fortunate to emerge from the first corner unscathed after tagging the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Mercedes lost the telemetry readings from Rosberg’s car before the start of the Chinese Grand Prix, but the team was able to help manage his race without them.

Rosberg repassed Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India and Felipe Massa’s Williams early on, before jumping the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo for fourth at the first round of pitstops.

Once it became clear Rosberg did not have to worry about fuel consumption in his second stint, he closed down and passed the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull for third.

Vettel slipped back on his second set of tyres and fell into the clutches of team-mate Ricciardo, also recovering after a slow start from the front row of the grid.

Vettel refused a team order to let Ricciardo through, but the Australian got the best of their personal duel anyway when the four-time world champion Vettel ran deep into Turn 1 around half race distance.

The pair eventually finished fourth and fifth behind Fernando Alonso, who survived contact with his former Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa at the start to score the Scuderia’s first podium of the 2014 season.

Alonso climbed to third with a fast start from fifth on the grid and jumped Vettel for second by making his first pitstop earlier than the Red Bull.

But the improved Ferrari was not fast enough to prevent Mercedes scoring its third consecutive one-two result, so Alonso had to settle for the final podium spot when Rosberg passing him easily on the back straight with 14 laps to the flag.

Alonso had to do a long stint on his final set of tyres and only held off Ricciardo’s Red Bull by 1.2 seconds, while Vettel finished 24 seconds behind his team-mate.

Massa survived his brush off Alonso as he tried to squeeze between the Ferrari and Ricciardo’s sluggish Red Bull at the start to run as high as fifth, but the Brazilian’s race was ruined by a slow first pitstop at which Williams encountered a problem with the left-rear wheel.

Nico Hulkenberg got the better of Massa’s Williams team-mate Bottas to round out the top six, while Hulkenberg’s Force India team-mate Sergio Perez – a podium hero last time out in Bahrain – climbed from P16 on the grid to finish ninth, just 2.4 seconds behind Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

Romain Grosjean’s Lotus retired with gearbox problems – no fourth gear – allowing Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat to continue his strong start to the season and claim the final point by rounding out the top ten in China.

Jenson Button completed a disappointing race for McLaren by finishing in P11, ahead of the slow-starting Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne and his rookie team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

Pastor Maldonado climbed from the back of the grid to P14 for Lotus, one position ahead of the recovering Massa.

So a not a thrilling race at the Shanghai International Circuit compared to Bahrain but the race results means it’s an exciting battle for top honours. Nico Rosberg still leads the Drivers’ championship with 79 over 74 to Lewis Hamilton. While Red Bull Racing moves to second in the Constructors’ as Mercedes extends their lead.

Chinese Grand Prix, race results after 54 laps:

1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1h36m52.810s
2.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes                  +18.686s
3.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                   +25.765s
4.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault          +26.978s
5.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault          +51.012s
6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes      +57.581s
7.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes         +58.145s
8.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                 +1m23.990s
9.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes    +1m26.489s
10.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault          +1 lap
11.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes            +1 lap
12.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault          +1 lap
13.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes            +1 lap
14.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault               +1 lap
15.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           +1 lap
16.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
17.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault            +1 lap
18.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari            +1 lap
19.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           +2 laps
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault           +2 laps

Retirements:

Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault              27 laps
Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari              4 laps

Drivers’ standings:

1.  Nico Rosberg      79
2.  Lewis Hamilton    75
3.  Fernando Alonso   41
4.  Nico Hulkenberg   36
5.  Sebastian Vettel  33
6.  Daniel Ricciardo  24
7.  Valtteri Bottas   24
8.  Jenson Button     23
9.  Kevin Magnussen   20
10.  Sergio Perez      18
11.  Felipe Massa      12
12.  Kimi Raikkonen    11
13.  Jean-Eric Vergne  4
14.  Daniil Kvyat      4

Constructors’ standings:

1.  Mercedes              154
2.  Red Bull-Renault      57
3.  Force India-Mercedes  54
4.  Ferrari               52
5.  McLaren-Mercedes      43
6.  Williams-Mercedes     36
7.  Toro Rosso-Renault    8

Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, Circuit de Catalunya. May 9-11.

Lewis Hamilton achieved his third successive pole position by setting the quickest time at the Chinese Grand Prix.

In additional to taking the number one spot in China, the Mercedes driver recored his 34th career pole position in Formula 1.

Holding off the Red Bulls must be a bonus to the 2008 world champion.

With qualifying held in wet conditions, initially with most running on wets before the intermediates became the tyre of choice.

Hamilton went fastest on his first run in Q3 then improved by almost half a second on his second run to consolidate his place.

With this pole position in China, Hamilton has now broken Jim Clark’s British record, with only Michael Schumacher (68), Ayrton Senna (65) and Sebastian Vettel (45) still ahead of him overall.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo will start second, setting a time six tenths slower than Hamilton on his final Q3 attempt.

This means the Australian has outqualified his team-mate Sebastian Vettel for the third time this season, with the defending world champion only in third place ahead of the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg had looked set to take provisional pole away from Hamilton on his second Q3 run, but he carried too much speed into the hairpin, running wide and preventing him from improving.

A spin at the final corner on his final attempt ensured that Rosberg could do no better than fourth.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fifth quickest having never threatened the top positions during qualifying, with the Williams pairing of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas closely matched in sixth and seventh respectively.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg qualified eighth, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.

While Romain Grosjean put a Lotus into Q3 for the first time this season, despite ending up the slowest in the top ten shootout.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren driver Jenson Button were the big-name casualties during Q2.

Both were unable to set a good enough pace on their second set of intermediates to break into the top ten after being bumped out of it by well-timed improvements by Vergne, Massa and Hulkenberg.

Button, who complained of a lack of front tyre temperature, and Raikkonen both lapped quickly enough in the first two sectors to make Q3 on their final laps, but worsening conditions in the final sector made it impossible to improve overall.

Daniil Kvyat will start in P13 ahead of Adrian Sutil, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez.

Esteban Gutierrez was the fastest of those to fall in Q1.

The Sauber driver had looked set to seal a place in the second stage of qualifying with a late run on intermediates before a very poor final sector, including a wide moment at the final corner, ruined his attempt.

Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi beat Jules Bianchi to P18, with team-mate Marcus Ericsson outpacing the Marussia of Max Chilton.

Pastor Maldonado was classified P22 as he was unable to participate thanks to an engine problem that forced him to stop on track during FP3.

So a brilliant qualifying record for Mercedes. Four pole from four races with Lewis Hamilton setting a new British record with poles.

Can the Silver Arrows continue that impressive run into the race? It should be a fascinating Chinese Grand Prix.

Qualifying positions at the Chinese Grand Prix:

1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m53.860s
2.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m54.455s
3.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m54.960s
4.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m55.143s
5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m55.637s
6.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m56.147s
7.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m56.282s
8.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m56.366s
9.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m56.773s
10.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m57.079s
11.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m56.860s
12.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m56.963s
13.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m57.289s
14.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m57.393s
15.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m57.675s
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m58.264s
17.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m58.988s
18.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m59.260s
19.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m59.326s
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      2m00.646s
21.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      2m00.865s
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault

107 per cent time: 2m03.602s

Lewis Hamilton won the intra-team battle against Nico Rosberg to score his second victory of the season for Mercedes.

The 900th Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit proved to be a thrilling race from start-to-finish with fantastic wheel-to-wheel battle.

A late-race Safety Car, deployed after Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus tipping Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber into a roll at Turn 1, turned the 57-lap race into a ten lap sprint under floodlights in the desert.

Both drivers had gone wheel-to-wheel in the early stages, as Hamilton edging out polesitter Rosberg at the start and the German attempted to come back at his British team-mate, so they were warned to keep it clean by Mercedes boss Paddy Lowe.

They just about managed it as they scrapped aggressively for the overfall victory.

Rosberg had the advantage of softer tyres for the showdown and had several stabs at passing Hamilton using DRS into the Michael Schumacher corner.

But he could not make either stick, and Hamilton prevailed on his medium tyres after some epic side-by-side racing through the esses.

Behind, Force India recorded its first podium since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix as Sergio Perez just held off the quicker Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.

The Red Bulls also had the advantage on running the soft tyres for the final sprint and Ricciardo got the better of his world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India to finish in fourth place.

Vettel, who complained of a lack of power from his Renault engine, could not find his own way past Hulkenberg so had to spend the final two laps fending off Williams pair Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas for sixth.

Williams gambled on a three-stop strategy where most of the other frontrunners went for two, and the Safety Car undid its hopes of a better result.

The Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top ten, while Jenson Button joined his McLaren team-mate Kevin Magnussen with a non-finish. This was a disappointing result for the Jenson’s 250th Grand Prix appearance.

So a brilliant race in the desert. Full of action and drama throughout the field, and yet the Silver Arrows comes out on top once again with three victories out of three races.

Bahrain Grand Prix race results after 57 laps:

1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                  1h38m42.743
2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                  +1.085s
3. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes      +24.067s
4. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault          +24.489s
5. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes      +28.654s
6. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault          +29.879s
7. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes         +31.265s
8. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes         +31.876s
9. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                   +32.595s
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                   +33.462s
11. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault        +41.342s
12. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault             +43.143s
13. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari          +59.909s
14. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault             +1m02.803s
15. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault          +1m27.900s
16. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari          +1 lap
17. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes          +2 laps

Retirements

Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes        40 laps
Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          39 laps
Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault        33 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault      18 laps
Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari          17 laps

Drivers’ standings:

1. Nico Rosberg       61
2. Lewis Hamilton     50
3. Nico Hulkenberg    28
4. Fernando Alonso    26
5. Jenson Button      23
6. Sebastian Vettel   23
7. Kevin Magnussen    20
8. Valtteri Bottas    18
9. Sergio Perez       16
10. Daniel Ricciardo   12
11. Felipe Massa       12
12. Kimi Raikkonen     7
13. Jean-Eric Vergne   4
14. Daniil Kvyat       3

Constructors’ standings:

1. Mercedes               111
2. Force India-Mercedes   44
3. McLaren-Mercedes       43
4. Red Bull-Renault       35
5. Ferrari                33
6. Williams-Mercedes      30
7. Toro Rosso-Renault     7

Next race: Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai. April 18-20.