Nico Rosberg achieved his hat trick of pole positions in Formula 1 with a brilliant lap around the tight and twisty Monaco circuit.

The Mercedes driver fended off the challenges from Red Bull Racing to take the top spot, edging out his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the process too.

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were initially first and second following the first Q3 runs, and with the rain appearing set to increase, it looked like Red Bull Racing might have the front row sealed.

But Mercedes found extra pace in the final moments of Q3, with Lewis Hamilton first leaping to the front with a time of one minute, 13.967 seconds, until Rosberg pipping him by 0.091 seconds with a pole position time of one minute, 13.876 seconds.

Vettel was 0.013 seconds down on Hamilton as he denied Webber third place. Kimi Raikkonen took fifth for Lotus, while Ferrari had a tough qualifying session.

Fernando Alonso could only manage sixth, while his team-mate Felipe Massa was unable to take part at all following his practice three crash. The team couldn’t repair the car in time for Q1.

McLaren’s Sergio Perez and Jenson Button were seventh and eighth, split by Adrian Sutil’s Force India.

Jean-Eric Vergne completed the top ten with a strong performance for Toro Rosso.

There was an element of lottery in getting into the top ten as Q2 came to a frenetic end, with everyone opted for slick tyres in the final four minutes and then trying to get the best out of an ever-quicker track.

Romain Grosjean was among those to lose out. His P13 was an anti-climax after a star Q1 performance, when he had shot to the front briefly on the single flying lap he had time for once Lotus had repaired his practice crash damage.

The other big story of Q2 was Giedo van der Garde’s effort. The Dutchman got Caterham through Q1 for the first time this season and was a top ten contender in Q2.

He eventually ended up P15, beating Q1 pacesetter Pastor Maldonado’s Williams. Maldonado was two positions behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Also out in Q2 were Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, who share row six.

Paul di Resta was left enraged with Force India’s tactics as he missed the Q1 cut and ended up P17. Esteban Gutierrez was also knocked out and will start behind Charles Pic in P19.

Jules Bianchi will join Massa on the back row, having parked on his out-lap with a fire in his Marussia’s airbox.

So an exciting qualifying session. Mercedes have locked-out the front row yet again but with overtaking so damn difficult around Monaco, we could see the Silver Arrows taking the race victory.

Qualifying times from Monte Carlo:

1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m13.876s
2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m13.967s
3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m13.980s
4. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m14.181s
5. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m14.822s
6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m14.824s
7. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.138s
8. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m15.383s
9. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.647s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m15.703s
11. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m18.331s
12. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m18.344s
13. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m18.603s
14. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m19.077s
15. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m19.408s
16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m21.688s
17. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes     1m26.322s
18. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m26.633s
19. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.917s
20. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.303s
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     No time
22. Felipe Massa          Ferrari     No time

107 per cent time: 1m29.293s

Fernando Alonso sent his passionate fans into hysteria as the Ferrari driver charged from fifth on the grid to take his first victory at the Circuit de Catalunya since 2006.

Kimi Raikkonen emerged as Fernando’s main rival, while Sebastian Vettel and the front-row-starting Mercedes faded in the race.

Despite a three-place grid penalty for impeding in qualifying, Felipe Massa recovering from ninth to take the final podium spot.

In a race full of tyre conservation, Alonso’s approach was to go flat-out.

While Vettel split the Mercedes into Turn 1, Alonso accelerated around the outside of both Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton at Turn 3 to move into third.

Rosberg clung on at the front of the field through the first pitstops.

By the time they were done, Alonso was his main challenger, having pitted one lap ahead of Vettel and jumped the Red Bull.

Rosberg’s plunge down the race order began on lap 12, when Alonso passed him into Turn 1, with Vettel and Raikkonen further demoted him before that lap was completed.

Once in front, the home crowd favourite began to pull away.

Despite running longer, Vettel turned out to be on the same four-stop strategy as Alonso, but the championship leader was unable to match the Ferrari’s sheer pace.

Raikkonen, however, could pull off a three-stop strategy. The Finn lost time behind Vettel in the middle of the stint, and then raised his pace after overtaking the Red Bull on lap 33.

Lotus had a potential edge going into the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix, with Raikkonen a few seconds ahead of Alonso at a point when both had a single pit-stop left to go.

But on his fresher set of Pirellis, Alonso stormed up behind Raikkonen at a rate of two seconds per lap, breezed past the Lotus then vanished into the distance, swiftly building a 12-second advantage.

Raikkonen was left to fend off Massa, who had been rapid all race and got a green light from Ferrari to try to catch the Lotus. Tyre wear affected this charge and Felipe was forced to back off, so third was the result.

Vettel’s attempts to run longer on his set of tyres ultimately cost him so much pace that he fell behind the earlier-pitting Massa.

The defending world champion had to settle for fourth, followed by his Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber.

As for Mercedes, Nico Rosberg finished sixth after running a three-stop strategy while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton dropped right down the order in a lapped P12. His

Force India’s Paul di Resta chased the pole sitter to the chequered flag.

McLaren ended up eighth and ninth after 66 laps around the Circuit de Catalunya.

Jenson Button had tumbled to P17 in the opening laps, but nursed his tyres through three stops and emerged ahead of his early-charging, but four-stopping, team-mate Sergio Perez.

Daniel Ricciardo fended off Esteban Gutierrez to give Scuderia Toro Rosso the final championship point.

It was still a breakthrough day for Gutierrez, as a long first stint meant Sauber’s rookie managed to lead a Formula 1 race for the first time.

Last year’s Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado struggled home in P14, recovering from a pitlane speeding penalty.

Romain Grosjean was an early retirement with a broken right-rear suspension on his Lotus.

Two pitlane incidents attracted the race stewards’ attention.

Caterham could face sanctions after Giedo van der Garde lost a wheel on his out-lap, while Nico Hulkenberg had an unsafe release penalty following a pitlane clash with Jean-Eric Vergne, prior to which both had been points contenders.

So a great result for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso. This was the Italian team’s 221st victory in the sport and the Spaniard’s 32nd. And yet the talk after the race was all about tyres.

The drivers are forced to race below the limit in order to conserve the tyres. The sport is going through a difficult balancing act between entertainment and sporting this season.

Have Pirelli gone too far in making the tyres not durable? That is the big debate at the moment and yet we don’t want to see dull, processional racing as seen in the last decade. Hopefully the tyres won’t play a major factor in the upcoming races. Monaco could be interesting though as it’s narrow and difficult to overtake.

Spanish Grand Prix race results, after 66 laps:

1.  Alonso         Ferrari    1h39:16.596s
2.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault  +9.338
3.  Massa          Ferrari        +26.049
4.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault    +38.273
5.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault    +47.963
6.  Rosberg        Mercedes        +1:08.020
7.  Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes     +1:08.988
8.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      +1:19.506
9.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      +1:21.738
10.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   +1 lap
11.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari      +1 lap
12.  Hamilton       Mercedes     +1 lap
13.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    +1 lap
14.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault      +1 lap
15.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari     +1 lap
16.  Bottas         Williams-Renault    +1 lap
17.  Pic            Caterham-Renault    +1 lap
18.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth   +2 laps
19.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth   +2 laps

Not classified/retirement:

Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14 laps
Van der Garde  Caterham-Renault   45 laps
Grosjean       Lotus-Renault    58 laps

World Championship standings, round 5:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel         89
2.  Raikkonen      85
3.  Alonso         72
4.  Hamilton       50
5.  Massa          45
6.  Webber         42
7.  Di Resta       26
8.  Grosjean       26
9.  Rosberg        22
10.  Button         17
11.  Perez          12
12.  Ricciardo       7
13.  Sutil           6
14.  Hulkenberg      5
15.  Vergne          1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          131
2.  Ferrari                   117
3.  Lotus-Renault             111
4.  Mercedes                   72
5.  Force India-Mercedes       32
6.  McLaren-Mercedes           29
7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          8
8.  Sauber-Ferrari              5

Next race: Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo. May 23-26.

Nico Rosberg achieved his third pole position following a brilliant lap at the Circuit de Catalunya. His Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton lines up second after being quickest in Q1 and Q2.

This was Mercedes team’s third consecutive pole position despite showing little of their one-lap pace during the three practice sessions.

And yet come the qualifying hour, the speed of the Silver Arrows reveals the true performance against their rivals.

Rosberg repeated his Bahrain pole after producing two great laps in the top ten shootout.

His initial one minute, 20.8 seconds benchmark proved unbeatable, but the German was able to improve this with a time of one minute, 20.718 seconds to secure the front row spot.

Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second place, just 0.254 seconds adrift.

As for the Formula 1 championship leader Sebastian Vettel, the Red Bull driver will lines up third. Ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and the home crowd favourite Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

Alonso’s team-mate Felipe Massa mounted a strong challenge for pole position only to lose crucial time in the final sector and ended up in sixth position.

Unfortunately, the Brazilian was deemed to have impeded Mark Webber’s Red Bull in Q2 and will drop three places on the grid.

Hamilton had earlier starred in a thrilling end to Q2, throwing in a last-gasp lap that jumped him from a worrying P13 to a comfortable first, six tenths clear of the pack.

Sergio Perez also produced an eleventh-hour surge in Q2, getting up to seventh and then qualifying ninth in Q3. His McLaren team-mate Jenson Button was unable to match that. Was six tenths slower and will start in a disappointing P14.

Toro Rosso had looked promising in practice and both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne had a realistic shot at Q3. Both were holding onto a top ten spot, before being narrowly squeezed out by others.

They will share row six, ahead of Adrian Sutil, who could not join team-mate Paul di Resta in the pole position shootout. The Scot took tenth place.

Going into the final seconds of Q2, both Saubers had made it into Q3. But in the subsequent flurry of improvements, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez tumbled down to row eight.

The race stewards would later demote the Mexican further down the grid after blocking Kimi Raikkonen in Q1.

As for Williams, who started the race on pole and later won the Spanish Grand Prix last year. The new upgrades failed to improve the car’s overall speed meaning neither drivers got beyond Q1.

The 2012 winner, Pastor Maldonado will start the race in P18 (accused of blocking by Button) while team-mate Valtteri Bottas was just be one position ahead.

The back of the grid battle stepped up a gear with a very close tussle between Caterham and Marussia.

Giedo van der Garde finally emerged on top for Caterham, edging out Marussia’s Jules Bianchi by just 0.052 seconds.

Max Chilton and Charles Pic were a few tenths behind their respectable team-mates.

So a fantastic performance by Mercedes. But can the team win from the front? Tyre degradation will play a part in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix and yet if Mercedes can continue their impressive qualifying pace into the race, then we could see a Silver Arrows taking the chequered flag first.

Qualifying positions for the Spanish Grand Prix:

1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m20.718s
2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m20.972s
3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m21.054s
4. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m21.177s
5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m21.218s
6. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m21.308s
7. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m21.570s
8. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m22.069s
9. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m21.219s*
10. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m22.233s
11. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m22.127s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m22.166s
13. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m22.346s
14. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.166s
15. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m22.389s
16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m23.260s
17. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m23.318s
18. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m24.661s
19. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m22.793s*
20. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m24.713s
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m24.996s
22. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m25.070s

107 per cent time: 1m27.448s

*Three-place grid penalty for impended

Sebastian Vettel achieved his 28th victory in Formula 1 with an impeccable performance in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The triple world champion pushed his Red Bull to the front of the pack following a spectacular early dicing with his rivals. After that, Sebastian just pulled away and earned his second win of 2013.

In a carbon copy of last year’s podium result, the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean made it through the field to second and third, with the latter denying Paul di Resta a maiden podium with just six laps to the flag.

Vettel was in a hurry to hit the front from the off. The German forced polesitter Nico Rosberg to defend heavily off the line, and although Fernando Alonso managed to get his Ferrari between them around the outside, the triple world champion surged back into second with a bold move at Turn 5.

Vettel then pounced on Rosberg’s Mercedes into Turn 4 on the second lap, only to run wide. Next time around he made the move stick, and thereafter inched away towards an ever more certain victory.

Alonso was soon up to second but his DRS flap was jammed open. The Spaniard made an emergency pitstop to fix it, but the problem reoccurred. By lap nine, he was P19, had made two pitstops but without the use of DRS, it became a difficult race for the Chinese Grand Prix winner.

With Alonso out of contention, the best of the rest battle became a contest between di Resta and Raikkonen, both two-stopping compared to the front runners who made most three.

Di Resta looked to be best-placed until his final pitstop, when Raikkonen vaulted him having stopped sooner.

Force India remained on course for third for a while, but Grosjean was coming up fast. The three-stopping Frenchman saved his medium tyres for the final stint and was able to hunt down and pass the Scotsman, who had to settle for fourth position.

The rest of the top ten featured wild racing, with plenty of wheel-to-wheel action as different strategies unfolded and different cars found pace at various stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton was able to progress through the field despite a low-key start and in the end, took fifth for Mercedes.

Sergio Perez produced by far his most combative performance for McLaren yet. He was involved in a long duel with team-mate Jenson Button and the fading Rosberg, which featured contact between the pair and anxious radio messages on more than one occasion.

Despite losing a front wing endplate against his team-mate, Perez finished sixth, joining Hamilton in passing Mark Webber on the final lap.

Webber had been a podium threat for Red Bull, but in the end fell back on his final set of tyres.

Alonso fought through to eighth despite his lack of DRS, with Rosberg and Button forced to make four pitstops and ending up ninth and tenth.

Felipe Massa suffered two right rear punctures and was only P15. He had also made contact with Adrian Sutil on the opening lap, causing a puncture for the Force India driver, who made it back up to P13.

So a fantastic result for Sebastian Vettel. The German edges ahead of Sir Jackie Stewart record with 28 victories.

Vettel extends his points score to 77, ten points ahead of Raikkonen on 67, while Hamilton moves up to third on 50 from Alonso on 47. Webber is fifth on 32 from Massa on 30, Grosjean on 26, Di Resta on 20, Rosberg on 14 and Button on 13.

Red Bull have 109 points in the constructors’ championship, with Lotus moving to second on 93 from Ferrari on 77. Mercedes are still in play with 64, with Force India fifth on 26 and McLaren on 23.

Bahrain Grand Prix race results after 57 laps:

1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           1h36:00.498s
2.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +9.111s
3.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault             +19.507s
4.  Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes      +21.727s
5.  Hamilton       Mercedes                  +35.230s
6.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes          +35.998s
7.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault          +37.244s
8.  Alonso         Ferrari                   +37.574s
9.  Rosberg        Mercedes                  +41.126s
10.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes          +46.631s
11.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault        +1m06.450s
12.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari          +1m12.933s
13.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    +1m16.719s
14.  Bottas         Williams-Renault        +1m21.511s
15.  Massa          Ferrari                 +1m26.364s
16.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari        +1 lap
17.  Pic            Caterham-Renault          +1 lap
18.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari            +1 lap
19.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth         +1 lap
20.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth         +1 lap
21.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault         +2 laps

Not classified/retirement:

Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari          39 laps

World Championship standings, round 4:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel         77
2.  Raikkonen      67
3.  Hamilton       50
4.  Alonso         47
5.  Webber         32
6.  Massa          30
7.  Grosjean       26
8.  Di Resta       20
9.  Rosberg        14
10.  Button         13
11.  Perez          10
12.  Ricciardo       6
13.  Sutil           6
14.  Hulkenberg      5
15.  Vergne          1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          109
2.  Lotus-Renault              93
3.  Ferrari                    77
4.  Mercedes                   64
5.  Force India-Mercedes       26
6.  McLaren-Mercedes           23
7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          7
8.  Sauber-Ferrari              5

Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, Circuit de Catalunya. May 10-12.

Nico Rosberg achieved his second career pole position and the Mercedes F1 team’s first back-to-back since 1955 following an exciting qualifying session at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The Silver Arrows had not looked like an outright front row contender during practice but when Rosberg recorded a lap of one minute, 32.4 seconds at the start of Q3, his rivals were unable to match it.

Sebastian Vettel came close for Red Bull Racing with a time of one minute, 32.584 seconds. He will start ahead of last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari.

Rosberg then made his pole position absolutely certain, improving with a time of one minute, 32.330 seconds to grab the top spot by over 0.2 seconds.

His Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 0.4 seconds slower in fourth position. However, he will lose five places on the grid for having a gearbox change prior to qualifying.

A left-rear tyre failure damaged the rear suspension, which also included the gearbox. So the team was forced to replace it, hence the grid penalty.

Fifth position will also change post-session. Mark Webber took the place for Red Bull, but faces a three-place penalty himself after last weekend’s collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in China.

Ferrari put Felipe Massa on hard tyres for Q3 and he took sixth position, followed by the Force India pair of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil. The latter only just made it into Q3 with a late charge.

After setting the pace in Friday practice, Kimi Raikkonen was only ninth in his Lotus.

McLaren was ecstatic to see Jenson Button reach Q3 against expectations with a last-gasp lap. The 2009 world champion chose not to do a flying lap in the top ten shootout.

The late Q2 improvements pushed Romain Grosjean’s Lotus down to P11. The Frenchman was back in the pits at the end of the session with his first lap not been suitable enough to make it through.

Both Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado set identical times in the Williams during Q1. However, since Bottas recorded the one minute, 34.425 seconds lap first, meaning he made it to Q2 that became P15, his team-mate was left out with P17.

Esteban Gutierrez’s troubles continued as he only managed P18 in qualifying, which will become last when his five-place penalty for crashing into Adrian Sutil in China is applied.

There was a change in form at the back. Driving the upgraded Caterham, Charles Pic got his team ahead of Marussia for the first time this season, as he beat Jules Bianchi by a full 0.9 seconds.

Giedo van der Garde, in the older-spec Caterham, also outqualified a Marussia, pushing Max Chilton down to P22.

So a great pole position by Nico Rosberg. The first for Mercedes since Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio at the British and Italian Grands Prix in 1955. This is also the Brackley-based team first back-to back, when it was Brawn GP, since Jenson Button in 2009 Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix.

Grid positions for the Bahrain Grand Prix:

1.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes              1m32.330s
2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault      1m32.584s
3.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari               1m32.667s
4.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari               1m33.207s
5.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes  1m33.235s
6.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  1m33.246s
7.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault      1m33.078s*
8.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault         1m33.327s
9.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes              1m32.762s*
10.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes     No time
11.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault         1m33.762s
12.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes      1m33.914s
13.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m33.974s
14.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari        1m33.976s
15.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault      1m34.105s
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m34.284s
17.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault      1m34.425s
18.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault      1m35.283s
19.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.178s
20.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault      1m36.304s
21.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth     1m36.476s
22.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari        1m34.730s*

*Grid penalty

107 per cent time: 1m39.379s

Fernando Alonso scored his 31st victory in Formula 1 with a gritty drive in the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver made some great passes on his rivals and thanks to the tactics on starting on the soft compound tyre, he made this plan worked out perfectly to win in Shanghai.

Kimi Raikkonen recovered from a poor getaway at the start to finish in second position for Lotus while pole sitter Lewis Hamilton had to settle for third.

Both drivers used the same tyre strategy as the race winner to fill the podium, while championship leader Sebastian Vettel was giving chase throughout the race following his low grid position.

Vettel’s tactics on running the medium set could only give him fourth position and the Red Bull driver was right behind the Mercedes in a thrilling finish.

The race unfolded as two parallel contests between those who started on softs, briefly burst clear and then pitted early and dropped into traffic, and those who started on mediums, emerged up front, but would face soft tyre degradation later.

Alonso quickly thrust himself to the front of the first group. A slow start from Raikkonen meant the Ferraris were into second and third by Turn 1, and both Alonso and Felipe Massa overtook Hamilton on lap five as the Mercedes’ soft tyres faded quicker.

Massa stayed out one lap longer than most on soft and subsequently faded away from the lead battle, while Alonso’s speed at hacking through traffic on alternative strategies once he was on mediums gave him an advantage over everyone else on the same strategy.

Vettel left his softs until the final five laps.

But by then, Alonso’s strategy was the correct one. The Ferrari’s shorter stints meant Alonso caught Vettel on track on lap 42 on fresher tyres at a time when both had one more pitstop to go.

Alonso swiftly passed the Red Bull and cruised away, knowing Vettel would still have to take on softs.

While the Ferrari was out of reach, Vettel still had a chance to attack Raikkonen’s Lotus and Hamilton’s Mercedes, which had been battling all race.

The defending champion caught his two rivals at a rate of three seconds per lap after his late pitstop and started the final lap with Hamilton in sight.

The Mercedes hung on by just 0.2 seconds, with Raikkonen staying just far enough ahead to claim second. The Lotus was sporting a dramatic tear in its nose section after an early brush with the defensive Sergio Perez’s McLaren.

Jenson Button pulled off a two-stop strategy in the other McLaren, allowing him to lead for a while and finish in fifth place ahead of Massa.

Daniel Ricciardo converted his impressive qualifying result into seventh for Toro Rosso, despite an early front wing change.

Paul di Resta and Romain Grosjean were eighth and ninth for Force India and Lotus respectively.

Nico Hulkenberg played a major role in the early stages. Running the same strategy as Vettel, he got ahead of the Red Bull early on and led as the strategies unfolded.

A slow pitstop meant he lost out to Vettel, and Sauber’s strategy of a very short middle stint on softs did not work out, leaving him tenth.

Mark Webber’s troubled weekend got even worse in the race. Clearing the soft tyres on the opening lap and instantly taking mediums gave him a shot at getting up with the leaders, but he smashed his front wing in a tangle with Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso then retired when his right rear wheel fell off after a subsequent pitstop for repairs.

Nico Rosberg was troubled by an apparent suspension problem from the outset and retired his Mercedes soon after his second pitstop.

Esteban Gutierrez crashed out after ploughing into the back of Adrian Sutil. The Force India driver had earlier clashed with his team-mate di Resta.

The stewards were investigating several drivers for possible use of DRS under yellow flags – notably Vettel, Webber, Raikkonen, Bottas, Ricciardo and Chilton.

And yet in the end, no action was taken. However, both Mark Webber and Esteban Gutierrez received grid drops in the next race at Bahrain for crashing into cars.

So a fantastic race for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso. He matches Nigel Mansell’s record of 31 wins in the sport. It was his 200th race start too.

After three rounds, Vettel still leads the title chase with 52 points, from Raikkonen on 49, Alonso on 43, Hamilton on 40, Massa on 30 and Webber on 26. In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 78, Ferrari 73, Lotus 60, Mercedes 52, and McLaren and Force India 14.

Bahrain plays hosts to round four of an exciting Formula 1 season next weekend. With three different winners in the first three races, will we see a new winner? Just like the tyre strategy and action on track, it’s going to be unpredictable.

Race results from Shanghai International Circuit:

1.  Alonso         Ferrari                    1h36:26.945
2.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +10.168s
3.  Hamilton       Mercedes                   +12.322s
4.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           +12.525s
5.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes           +35.285s
6.  Massa          Ferrari                    +40.827s
7.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +42.691s
8.  Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes       +51.084s
9.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault              +53.423s
10.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari             +56.598s
11.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes           +1m03.860s
12.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1m12.604s
13.  Bottas      Williams-Renault           +1m33.861s
14.  Maldonado         Williams-Renault           +1m35.453s
15.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
16.  Pic            Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
18.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault           +1 lap

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1m36.808s

Not classified/retirements:
Rosberg        Mercedes                     22 laps
Webber         Red Bull-Renault             16 laps
Sutil          Force India-Mercedes         6 laps
Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari               5 laps

World Championship standings, round 3:                

Drivers:             
1.  Vettel         52
2.  Raikkonen      49
3.  Alonso         43
4.  Hamilton       40
5.  Massa          30
6.  Webber         26
7.  Button         12
8.  Rosberg        12
9.  Grosjean       11
10.  Di Resta        8
11.  Ricciardo       6
12.  Sutil           6
13.  Hulkenberg      5
14.  Perez           2
15.  Vergne          1

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault           78
2.  Ferrari                    73
3.  Lotus-Renault              60
4.  Mercedes                   52
5.  Force India-Mercedes       14
6.  McLaren-Mercedes           14
7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          7
8.  Sauber-Ferrari              5

Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain International Circuit. April 19-21.

Lewis Hamilton achieved his 27th career pole position in Formula 1 and his first for the Mercedes AMG team.

However, the proceedings to the qualifying session at the Shanghai International Circuit was dominated by tyre strategy, with a lack of track action from the drivers.

Conserving tyres is now the important issue this year with Pirelli pushing the limits of tyre wear in order to provide more entertainment  – pitstops and mixed strategies – and it was not a surprise to see so few qualifying runs as the drivers saved the tyres for the race instead.

Hamilton set his impressive lap time of one minute, 34.484 seconds on the soft compound while Kimi Raikkonen qualified his Lotus in second place, 0.277 seconds off the flying Silver Arrows.

Fernando Alonso will start third for Ferrari.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start in ninth position after making the decision not to set a time in Q3. Despite the low grid order, the Red Bull driver will have the advantage in the first stint of the race thanks to running the medium tyre.

His Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber had a disastrous session, as a fuel pressure problem stranded the Australian in Q2. He will now start the Chinese Grand Prix right at the back of the grid.

With the soft tyres only good for one flying lap and expected to quickly fade away in the main race, qualifying was all about rubber conservation.

Q3 duly became a one-lap shootout in the final minute as all ten contenders poured onto the track at once.

Raikkonen was first to take provisional pole with a time of one minute, 34.761 seconds.

Several likely challengers were unable to match that benchmark, but Hamilton came through on a one minute, 34.484 seconds to give Mercedes pole at Shanghai for a second consecutive year.

Alonso ended his run of being outqualified by Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa as he took third, two positions ahead of the Brazilian.

Nico Rosberg split them in the other Mercedes.

Romain Grosjean was sixth for Lotus, followed by Daniel Ricciardo.

The Australian was one of the stars of qualifying as he got Toro Rosso into Q3 for the first time this season, beating team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne by 0.9 seconds in Q2.

Jenson Button joined Vettel in opting for medium and did a slow lap for eighth, while Vettel and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg chose not to do Q3 flying laps at all.

Webber ended qualifying in P14 after a fuel pressure problem forced him to park his car on the circuit in Q2.He will now start Sunday’s race in P22 as the team was unable to provide the mandatory fuel sample for the FIA.

Both Force Indias narrowly missed out on the top ten, with Paul di Resta just 0.029s off in P11. Team-mate Adrian Sutil was behind Sergio Perez’s McLaren in P13.

The tyre issue even neutered Q1, which did not feature any track action until halfway through.

Toro Rosso attempted to get through on mediums, but had to make a late switch to softs as both drivers were at risk of missing the cut.

Vergne and Ricciardo’s improvements meant Valtteri Bottas’s Williams and Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber were the two midfield cars that got knocked out.

Jules Bianchi had been ahead of the Toro Rossos before they moved to softs, but had to settle for his usual P19 for Marussia, still comfortably faster than his back-of-the-grid rivals.

So a fantastic achievement by Lewis Hamilton. His first pole for Mercedes. Can Lewis win his first race for the team and repeat their performance just like year with Nico Rosberg? We shall find out on race day in China.

Qualifying times from the Shanghai International Circuit:

1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m34.484s
2. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m34.761s
3. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m34.788s
4. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m34.861s
5. Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m34.933s
6. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m35.364s
7. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m35.998s
8. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     2m05.673s
9. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     no time
10. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       no time
11. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m36.287s
12. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.314s
13. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m36.405s
14. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m37.139s
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.199s
16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m37.769s
17. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.990s
18. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m38.780s
19. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m39.537s
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m39.614s
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m39.660s
22. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.679s*

*Excluded from qualifying after running out of fuel

107 per cent time: 1m42.489s

Following the fallout between the Red Bull drivers over the team order controversy that dominated last month’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the defending world champion has said he would ignore the instructions from the team to hold station again.

Sebastian Vettel attracted widespread criticisms from the media and fans, while team-mate Mark Webber was left feeling outrage when the German overtook the Australian to win at Sepang.

The pair had been ordered to maintain track position with Webber ahead after the final pitstops, but Vettel mounted an aggressive attack and snatched the race victory.

He later apologised to the team and to Webber, but when faced towards the media again three weeks after the event, Vettel was asked if he would repeat his actions.

The triple world champion said: “I’m not sure I can give a proper answer because in the moment it might be different but I would probably do the same.”

Vettel argued that he had misunderstood the team’s message, yet admitted that even if he had comprehended, his actions would likely not have changed.

“Had I understood the message and had I thought about it, reflected on it, thought what the team wanted to do, to leave Mark in first place and me finishing second… I think I would have thought about it and I would probably have done the same thing.

“He didn’t deserve it.

“There is quite a conflict, because on the one hand I am the kind of guy who respects team decisions and the other hand, probably Mark is not the one who deserved it at the time.”

Sebastian added his move was “indirectly” a form of payback for what he said was a lack of past support from Webber.

“I never had support from his side. I have a lot of support from the team, and the team has supported both of us the same way.

“But in terms of the relationship to Mark, I respect him a lot as a racing driver, but I think there was more than one occasion in the past where he could have helped the team and he didn’t.”

Despite not regretting his actions, Vettel said he stood by his decision to apologise to Red Bull.

“I was racing, and as a racing driver I was solely focused on winning the race and I got a call on the radio, which I heard, but I didn’t understand at the time,” he said.

“I should have understood, that is why I apologised to the team – because in my action I put myself above the team. Whether you believe me or not is up to you.”

But he shrugged off suggestions that he should have received a formal punishment from Red Bull.

“Maybe it is a little bit of a dreamland that you all live in, but what do you expect to happen?” said Vettel. “Make a suggestion!”

Reading into this, Sebastian Vettel has revealed his darker, more ruthless side to his character. After charming his way with countless press interviews and winning worldwide fans thanks to his supreme driving talent and world title victories, his action at Sepang shows how competitive and determined he wants to be in order to become successful.

In many ways, he is just like his childhood idol, the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. Both pushed the absolute limit in terms of achieving success – by whatever means necessary – and yet the public perception will change from being a nice and popular driver to a damn right ruthless one.

It’s going to be fascinating whether team boss Christian Horner can maintain control over his two ultra competitive race drivers, as it seems the pair no longer trust each other… What is interesting is that Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz is not a fan of team orders meaning the pair will need to settle the score by racing one another. The ideal situation for fans and media alike.