Hamilton captures 6th pole at Chinese GP with record time
SHANGHAI — Faced with a spirited challenge at the start of the Formula One season from a resurgent Ferrari, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton showed Saturday that he’s still the driver to beat.
Hamilton captured his sixth pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix, edging Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by less than two-tenths of a second.
For the second race in a row, Hamilton also did it in record time. His lap of 1 minute, 31.678 seconds broke the 13-year-old circuit mark held by Michael Schumacher by more than half a second. He also posted the fastest-ever lap at the Australian Grand Prix during qualifying last month.
Still, Hamilton doesn’t necessarily think he’s the odds-on favourite in Sunday’s race, given the pace shown by his rivals in the scarlet cars.