Updated

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has taken the pole position for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton's best time Saturday at the Shanghai International Circuit was 1 minute, 34.484 seconds, qualifying a quarter of a second ahead of Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso will start third in Sunday's race.

A cat-and-mouse qualifying session saw all runners restrict their time on the track to preserve their tires for the race, with all of the top 10 having only one flying lap in the final stage of qualifying.

Red Bull's Mark Webber had a fuel pressure failure in the second sector of qualifying, putting him 14th.