» Hamilton disappointed not to secure pole

Having had the pace-setting car for much of the weekend, and having topped the two knockout sessions of qualifying, Lewis Hamilton was justifiably disappointed not to secure pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver will line up sixth on the grid for tomorrow’s race, and will share the third row with his team-mate Jenson Button. Hamilton has now been out-qualified by the defending World Champion on three of the four races together in McLaren.

One doubts this is what Lewis wanted!

“We wanted to get pole today – and thought we could – and I don’t really know where the time went in Q3,” Lewis said after qualifying.

"The tyres felt fine – pretty much exactly the same as in Q1 and Q2, when the car felt great – but in Q3 the car started moving around a lot more and felt like the front was bottoming. We’d been quick all weekend but sixth was the best I could do in Q3."

Button – who ancitipates rain on race day – was happy with how the handling of his MP4-25 improved over the session.

"By Q3 it was much better," he said, "but it was a little bit too late by then; the car felt quite different, balance-wise, and I had to play around with the [differential] and front wing to find a good feeling in the car."

[Image via GP Update]