Red Bull's F1 world champ takes third straight pole with fastest lap at Shanghai qualifying
Red Bull's F1 world champ takes third straight pole with fastest lap at Shanghai qualifying
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Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel waves to fans after winning pole position for
the Formula One Chinese GP in Shanghai on Saturday Below left:
Vettel's Red Bull car. pics/AFP
The 23-year-old's Red Bull clocked a time of one minute 33.706 seconds, seven-tenths of a second quicker than the McLaren of Britain's Jenson Button, sending a strong message to rivals that the German remains the man to beat.
By taking pole, defending world champion Vettel became the first Formula One driver since Michael Schumacher in 2004 to start at the front of the grid in the opening three races of the season. But despite wins in this year's opening two races in Australia and Malaysia, Vettel said he would be taking nothing for granted on race day.
"Obviously we did it again but I try to remind myself and the team that every time is tough," Vettel told reporters. "It all starts from zero again on Sunday. We are as happy as we can be with the car, we had good long runs on Friday so have reason to feel good. It is not easy... but people tend to forget that," he said.
Saturday's qualifying completed a hat-trick of pole position placings in China for Vettel, who has dominated the season so far and already looks unstoppable.Button's McLaren came in at one minute 34.421 seconds, with his teammate and fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton in third, in a time of one minute 34.463.
Hamilton quipped that Vettel's trio of pole positions this season meant the champion was finding life 'too easy', but the German said Red Bull could not afford to be complacent.
"Teams like McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes are not as happy as they want to be," Vettel said. "They are pushing very hard, so to stay where we are, we have to push harder than them to stay there. We are all aware of that, and since 2009 -- halfway through 2009 -- we have had a very competitive car and are enjoying a run in the front and have not forgotten how it feels to run at the back."
Shanghaiu00a0GP starting grid
1. Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Button (McLaren), 3. Hamilton (McLaren), 4. Rosberg (Mercedes), 5. Alonso (Ferrari), 6. Massa (Ferrari),
7. Alguersuari (Toro Rosso),
8 Di Resta (Force India),
9. Buemi (Toro Rosso),
10. Petrov (Lotus),
11. Sutil Force India),
14 Schumacher (Mercedes),
24. Karthikeyan (Hispania)
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