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2012 Chinese Grand Prix qualifying

Nico Rosberg claims his first pole position in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg will start on pole for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi.

Lewis Hamilton set the second fastest time but will start seventh, due to a grid penalty for a gearbox change.

Rosberg was one of the first drivers on track for the final qualifying session, and quickly set the pace. He finished five-tenths of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton.

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This is Nico Rosberg's first pole position and Mercedes' first since Juan Manuel Fangio led the field at Monza in 1955.

Sebastian Vettel was the biggest casualty of the day. He failed to make it into the final qualifying session, and will start tomorrow in 11th. This is the first time the double world champion has qualified outside the top 10 since 2009 in Brazil.

Meanwhile, his teammate Mark Webber finished Q2 fastest after a strong final lap in a revised version of the RB8. He will start sixth on the grid.

All drivers finished within the 107 per cent time, so all 24 cars will start the race.

2012 Chinese Grand Prix grid

PositionDriverTeamTime
1Nico RosbergMercedes1'35.121
2Michael SchumacherMercedes1'35.691
3Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1'35.784
4Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1'35.898
5Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1'36.191
6Mark WebberRed Bull Racing-Renault1'36.290
7Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1'35.626*
8Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1'36.524
9Fernando AlonsoFerrari1'36.622
10Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1'35.903**
11Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1'36.031
12Felipe MassaFerrari1'36.255
13Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1'36.283
14Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1'36.289
15Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1'36.317
16Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1'36.745
17Daniel RicciardoSTR-Ferrari1'36.956
18Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1'38.463
19Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1’38.677
20Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1’39.282
21Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1’39.717
22Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth1’40.411
23Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’41.000
24Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Ferrari1’37.714***

107 per cent time: 1:42.931

* Five-place grid penalty

** Q2 time

*** Starts from pit line due to pre-race car changes

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