Vettel sitting pretty in China

Britain's Jenson Button, winner in China in 2010 after Vettel also set pole in that race, will start second on the grid on Sunday with McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton third and Nico Rosberg fourth for Mercedes.

The end of the final qualifying session though, proved rather anti-climatic as both Vettel and Button came in early from the final attempts after it became clear McLaren's Hamilton would not claim the pole position.

Vettel won the first two races for 2011 in Australia and Malaysia from pole.

QUALIFYING SESSION RESULTS

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1min33.706
2. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1min34.421
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1min34.463
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes-Benz, 1min34.670
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1min35.119
6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1min35.145
7. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1min36.158
8. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1min36.190
9. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1min36.203
10. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1min35.149
11. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1min35.874
12. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1min36.053
13. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1min36.240
14. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes-Benz, 1min36.457
15. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1min36.465
16. Nick Heidfeld, Renault, 1min36.611
17. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1min36.956
18. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1min36.468
19. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, 1min37.894
20. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1min38.318
21. Jerome d'Ambrosio, Virgin, 1min39.119
22. Timo Glock, Virgin, 1min39.708
23. Antonio Liuzzi, HRT, 1min40.212
24. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT, 1min40.445