Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg locked out the front row of the grid ahead of the 2015 Chinese grand prix.

The first part of the qualifying session was highlighted by neither McLaren being able to advance to Q2. Jenson Button out-qualified Fernando Alonso who suffered with severe oversteer after having missed the morning’s free practice session.

The second part of qualifying saw Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat fail to advance  along with the Toro Rosso duo of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. Pastor Maldonado also failed to advance to the final shoot-out and will provisionally start the Chinese grand prix in eleventh place.

Lewis Hamilton layed down an early marker in the top ten shoot-out as the double world champion dipped into the 1:35s for the first time this weekend. Nico Rosberg’s second attempt at a flying lap got him agonizingly close to the coveted pole position but the German ultimately missed out be less than half a tenth.

Sebastian Vettel confirmed Ferrari’s best-of-the-rest status be securing third while teammate Kimi Raikkonen endured a scruffy qualifying session to end sixth quickest. Williams’ Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas lined up the fourth and fifth quickest times.