However this does not mean we will be given another Australia-style snoozefest in the race in Shanghai on Sunday. Ferrari never expected to be able to take pole position, and are comparatively quicker in race trim. But it will still take another almighty drive from Vettel to stop Mercedes winning this one.
Hamilton said: “We’ve got a tough race ahead of us tomorrow. Ferrari still look good on their long run pace. It is not over by any means.”
Vettel added: “We knew that it would be tough today to be really, really close. For us we’re fairly happy to make sure that we are right behind them. Maybe tomorrow we are a bit closer but we will see what we can do.”
Vettel starts behind front row in Shanghai
It was a less happy story for McLaren once again, with neither car making it out of Q1. Forced to watch on from the garage for all of morning practice, Fernando Alonso was straight out of the blocks at the start of qualifying. For the first time this year McLaren felt they had a realistic chance of making it over the first hurdle.
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Button initially went as high as eighth, new territory for the beleaguered team in 2015. Along with everyone else, they still had to watch Mercedes speed in awe. Hamilton and Rosberg went easily a second quicker than their rivals.
The competition decided to switch to the faster rubber. Bottas – then Vettel – wrestled top spot from Hamilton. But the Mercedes pair stayed in the pits to save tyres, with a healthy advantage. Sadly for McLaren, they missed out on Q2 by a couple of tenths. With almost identical times, Button and Alonso were 17th and 18th respectively. Both Manor drivers and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg also missed out.
In the second segment, Hamilton complained that his seat was overheating. His lap times were even hotter. The 30-year-old’s first effort put him two seconds clear of the opposition, and 0.3s quicker than Rosberg. The German has had an off-colour start to the season but he showed signs here of arresting the decline.
Thankfully, Ferrari began to get their act together. Raikkonen went third, still seven tenths back from Hamilton. Vettel soon edged slightly closer to the front. There was an almighty scramble to make it into the shootout for pole position, with costly errors from Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen, in 12th and 13th. Pastor Maldonado, Carlos Sainz jnr. and Sergio Perez also failed to make it through.
Going for pole position, Hamilton laid down an ominous marker, a 1min35.8s lap. At this stage, Rosberg was two tenths back. Raikkonen’s first lap was scrappy and two seconds slower than Hamilton. Vettel’s was not much better.
Everyone watching on was praying the Scuderia had something up their sleeve. They didn’t. Vettel made a good go of it, but was still one second adrift. To the surprise of many Rosberg nearly pipped Hamilton, missing out by just 0.04s. The ball is back in Ferrari’s court.