Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took the pole position for Formula One's 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. "It's an incredible feeling, so happy to have our first pole for some time," Hamilton said. "I'm just ecstatic really, the lap was great." "I can't answer (critics) with one result but bit by bit, as we progress and improve, they will have to stand corrected. I am so grateful because it could have gone the other way. It was such a big choice for me and a big step for me but I made the right call." A cat-and-mouse qualifying session allowed all drivers to 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. McLaren's Jenson Button and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel both elected to do their flying lap on the harder of the two tire compounds, sacrificing grid position so they can have a longer stint at the beginning of the race. Button qualified eighth and Vettel ninth. Read more http://espn.go.com/racing/f1/story/...wis-hamilton-tire-gamble-pays-chinese-gp-pole
