F1: Rosberg Rolls To First Career Pole In China

Formula 1

F1: Rosberg Rolls To First Career Pole In China

Nico Rosberg takes the pole in Shanghai as Sebastian Vettel misses Q3...

Jared Turner | Posted April 14, 2012 Shanghai (CHN)

Saturday's qualifying session in China was an occasion that Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg will undoubtedly forever savor.

It was an occasion that Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel would undoubtedly like to quickly forget.

On a day when Rosberg captured his first career Formula One pole in 111 tries, fellow German Vettel delivered an even bigger shocker by failing to reach Q3 for the first time since 2009.

"It's a very special feeling, definitely," said Rosberg, whose father Keke is the 1982 World Champion. "I think we're making good progress. It's difficult to know exactly where we're going to be tomorrow. We're going to try our best."

Vettel, the reigning World Champion and winner of a Formula One record 15 poles last season, will start the Chinese GP from 11th position after missing the final qualifying segment for the first time since qualifying 15th for the penultimate race of 2009 in Brazil.

"It's tight," Vettel said of the gap between his Q2 time and the times of those in the top 10. "To be honest, I was pretty happy with the lap I had in Q2 but it wasn't quick enough."

Rosberg's Q3 lap of 1:35:121 was easily quick enough for pole, topping the second-place McLaren of Lewis Hamilton (1:35:626) by more than half a second.

Hamilton will line up seventh on Sunday's grid, however, due to a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change prior to qualifying.

"Congratulations to Nico," said Hamilton, whose bid to open the season with three straight poles came up just short. "It was quite a big gap between us."

Michael Schumacher clocked in third to give Mercedes two of three spots on the qualifying podium, as Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi and Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen completed a surprising top five.

Nico Rosberg reacts after winning the pole in China. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

McLaren's Jenson Button, Red Bull's Mark Webber, Sauber's Sergio Perez, championship leader Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and Lotus' Romain Grosjean filled out the rest of the top 10.

One spot behind Vettel on the grid will be the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, whose 2012 woes continued Saturday as the Brazilian failed to reach Q3 for the third time in as many attempts this season.

All 24 drivers, including the notoriously sluggish HRT entries, qualified within the 107 percent window and will participate in Sunday's race.

Qualifying concludes Saturday's on-track activities in Shanghai.

SPEED's live coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix begins at 2:30 a.m. ET Sunday, with the race set to get under way just after 3 a.m. ET.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.