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From press release

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton recorded his third pole position in four races this season, beating Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo to the first spot on the grid ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton (Photo: WRi2)

"It was a tough session today," said Hamilton.

Indeed, it was another wet day in Shanghai. The rain did ease off after Q1, but not enough to change to slick tires.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull RB10 (Photo: WRi2)

"Our rivals look closer in the wet conditions, so we'll be hoping it's a dry race to take advantage of the position we're in," added the pole-sitter.

"We go into the race with a little bit of an unknown because after I struggled in practice on Friday. We made a lot of changes to the car and I haven't yet had a chance to try them in the dry."

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB10 (Photo: WRi2)

His 34th career pole position puts Hamilton atop the all-time list for British drivers.

Aboard the second Silver Arrow, Nico Rosberg qualified only fourth. The other driver to get in between him and Hamilton was Ricciardo's teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who qualified third.

"Fourth place is not a disaster," said the German. "I was quick on Friday doing the race preparation so I am still confident that there is everything to play for tomorrow."

Nico Rosberg (Photo: WRi2)

Qualifying Results* - Chinese Grand Prix (round 4 of 19)
1.Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W05) - 1'53"860 - Q3
2.Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'54"455 - Q3
3.Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'54"960 - Q3
4.Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W05) - 1'55"143 - Q3
5.Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F14-T) - 1'55"637 - Q3
6.Felipe Massa (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'56"147 - Q3
7.Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'56"282 - Q3
8.Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'56"366 - Q3
9.Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'56"773 - Q3
10.Romain Grosjean (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1'57"079 - Q3
11.Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F14-T) - 1'56"860 - Q2
12.Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/29-Mercedes) - 1'56"963 - Q2
13.Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'57"289 - Q2
14.Adrian Sutil (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1'57"393 - Q2
15.Kevin Magnussen (McLaren MP4/29-Mercedes) - 1'57"675 - Q2
16.Sergio Perez (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'58"264 - Q2
17.Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1'58"988 - Q1
18.Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham CT05-Renault) - 1'59"260 - Q1
19.Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR03-Ferrari) . 1'59"326 - Q1
20.Marcus Ericsson (Caterham CT05-Renault) - 2'00"646 - Q1
21.Max Chilton (Marussia MR03-Ferrari) - 2'00"885 - Q1
22.Pastor Maldonado (Lotus E22-Renault) - no time - Q1
Unofficial timing

Nico Hulkenberg, Force India VJM07 (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

F1's engine manufacturers will focus their attention on the exhaust pipe as they work on spicing up the sound of the turbo V6 engines.

Unhappy with the milder noise of the new and 'green' F1, Bernie Ecclestone recently said Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault will work on making the 1.6 litre, turbocharged and energy recovery-boosted 'power units' sound better.

Told, however, that making the V6s loud would require a total redesign, Ecclestone told Sky: "All the air exits in the end out of what we call the exhaust pipe.

"So they can maybe do something there to make it sound a lot better."

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull RB10 (Photo: WRi2)

Indeed, F1's three engine suppliers sat down in Shanghai on Friday for the first 'noise' meeting.

Renault's Rob White warned that the V6s will never sound like a normally-aspirated V8.

"I think we need to be realistic about the scope of any action we might take," he told reporters in China.

Mercedes' Andy Cowell added: "There are things we can do with the tailpipe, perhaps, to change the noise."

Former F1 driver David Coulthard, meanwhile, said there are other aspects of the new engines that should be better appreciated.

"We shouldn't forget that these engines are very powerful and have more than 750 horse power when you factor in the renewable energy," he told Austria's Laola1.

"I'm a big fan of the louder F1 but in the days of Charlie Chaplin, there was a picture and no sound at all, and still the people were entertained.

"Certainly a bit more sound would not hurt," Coulthard added.

From GMM

Ron Dennis on Saturday confirmed McLaren will likely take its dispute with world champions Red Bull all the way to the High Court.

Earlier this month, new team boss Eric Boullier said the matter is "in the hands of our lawyers", after Red Bull announced it had successfully wooed Dan Fallows back to Milton Keynes.

Late last year, we reported that as well as Red Bull's aerodynamics chief Peter Prodromou, McLaren has also signed his 'deputy', Fallows.

But just as Fallows was ending his 'gardening leave' and due to start work at McLaren, Red Bull announced that he has in fact returned to work as the reigning world champions' newly-promoted 'head of aerodynamics'.

McLaren, however, insists it has a "legally binding contract" with Fallows.

"We regard this turn of events as completely unacceptable," Dennis, who revealed that Fallows had even moved to Surrey prior to returning to Red Bull, told us in a statement from Shanghai.

"He'd got no lawful right to change his mind in that way, because he'd already accepted our offer of employment and had already signed a contract in recognition of that," he insisted.

"Not surprisingly, when he failed to start work on the start date we'd agreed on, we called, texted and emailed him, but got no response.

"It was only when he was belatedly revealed via press release as Red Bull's head of aerodynamics that we finally understood what had happened.

"As a result of all of this, McLaren will probably have no realistic option other than to instigate a High Court action against Red Bull," Dennis confirmed.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner reacted to Dennis' comments on Saturday by saying the team will "vigorously" defend its re-employment of Fallows.

"We don't see there is any case to answer," he told Press Association.

"Perhaps Ron would have been better giving me a call."

From GMM

Lotus has discovered it is second or even third in line for the best service offered by F1 engine supplier Renault.

That is the claim of Michael Schmidt, the highly respected correspondent for Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Earlier, we reported that Lotus has in China finally taken delivery of the latest incarnation of Renault's turbo V6 'power unit', as used by Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso in Bahrain.

Italy's Autosprint had said the struggling Enstone team was unable to use the unit two weeks ago due to "other technical difficulties" with the E22 car.

But it appears there is more to the story.

Pastor Maldonado, Lotus E22 (Photo: WRi2)

Schmidt claims Renault, having invested only half the money in its V6 programme compared to dominant Mercedes, has been unable to produce enough parts to supply all of its team partners with the latest 2014 unit.

"As the unofficial works team, Red Bull gets the best service," he explained.

And as Red Bull has drafted its second team Toro Rosso into the process of speeding up the fixes to Renault's problems, the Faenza team has "also benefitted by getting the better engines every now and then", Schmidt added.

The Auto Motor und Sport report claimed that, in some cases, the engines used by Lotus this year have been 30 horse power off the pace of the leading Red Bull versions.

"Lotus is now sounding the alarm and is calling on Renault for equality with Red Bull," said Schmidt.

He explained that Red Bull has defended its status on the basis that title sponsor Infiniti is putting money into the engine development, but nonetheless Lotus will get full equality as from next month's Spanish grand prix.

"It is only a matter of time before we can deliver what we expect from the car," Lotus' Alan Permane is quoted as saying.

From GMM

Mercedes wanted reigning world champions Red Bull to serve a three-race ban for appealing against its Melbourne disqualification.

Earlier rumours in the Shanghai paddock had hinted at Mercedes' push for a ban, after Dr Helmut Marko said he was surprised by the "aggressiveness" with which Mercedes argued at the Paris appeal on Monday.

Although McLaren, Lotus, Williams and Force India also attended the appeal hearing, none of them "submitted any written observations, and none took any active part in the hearing".

The information emerged officially late on Friday, as F1's governing body revealed the full text of its decision to reject Red Bull's appeal.

Mercedes, on the other hand, did indeed play an active and forceful role in Paris, the carmaker's lawyer saying Red Bull actually deserves "a more severe sanction".

Photo: Mercedes

It was believed Mercedes only wanted a suspended further penalty for Red Bull, but in fact it argued in writing that the court should ban the reigning world champions for "no less than three races".

On top of the race ban, Mercedes called for "a disqualification for a further six months, suspended for a year".

Bild newspaper said Mercedes' tough stance might be viewed in the context of 2013, when Red Bull attacked the Brackley team when the 'secret' Pirelli tire test was revealed.

"Was this the Silver Arrows' revenge?" wondered correspondents Nicola Pohl and Lennart Wermke.

Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda on Saturday tried to ease any bad feeling between the two camps by delivering a chocolate cake to the Red Bull hospitality area.

"I personally brought them an Austrian Sachertorte," he told German television RTL. "It was just a nice gesture."

From GMM

Ferrari's new boss on Friday played down suggestions Fernando Alonso might be looking to leave the struggling Italian team.

Although car upgrades appear to have pushed the Spaniard closer to the pace in Shanghai, it wasn't enough to calm speculation Stefano Domenicali's exit might be one of the final straws in Alonso's fifth year in red.

Some reports suggest the relationship between Alonso and Domenicali's successor might not have got off to the best start.

But Marco Mattiacci said in Shanghai: "Alonso is a great professional, a superb driver, probably the best in the championship.

Marco Mattiacci (Photo: Ferrari)

"I think Fernando wants to win a world title with Ferrari," he is quoted by the Spanish sports daily AS.

At the same time, however, Mattiacci on Friday refused to rule out making some changes at Maranello.

"First, I need to see what is good in the team," he told Sky Italia. "I can make interventions, but only if it will for sure give us strong additional value, because we have an excellent team.

"It is at my disposal to do whatever it takes to ensure a solid future," added Mattiacci.

From GMM

World champion Sebastian Vettel on Saturday admitted he needs to up his game.

The German has won the last four drivers' titles on the trot, but all of them were alongside Mark Webber, who retired at the end of last season.

Australian Webber was replaced at Red Bull by his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo, who so far in 2014 has outqualified Vettel on no fewer than three out of four attempts.

Daniel Ricciardo has outqualified Vettel once more in China this weekend (Photo: WRi2)

Told that Ricciardo is clearly more competitive than Webber, Vettel said after qualifying in China: "Well, that's (not) a compliment to Mark, I should say, in his absence.

"I think this year is very, very different, the cars are very different so I don't think you can compare last year to this year," he insisted.

"But nevertheless, I think Daniel is doing a very good job, he has not just had one good weekend, he had good weekends and so far he seems to be able to get the maximum out of the car," Vettel admitted.

"On my side, maybe I'm struggling a little bit more, but at the end of the day we have the same car -- there's nothing between cars, so if he manages to beat me, then he beats me on the circuit, fair and square," he said.

"Of course, that's not to my liking but equally, I know that I have to do a little bit better."

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