Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg drove beautifully to win the 2016 Australian Grand PrixReuters

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton might have been brilliant in the Australia and Bahrain qualifying session, but the Chinese Grand Prix was a disaster. The defending champion will start from last position in the grid. But, his team mate, Nico Rosberg was at his menacing best, with a fastest timing of 1m 35.402s to clinch pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Rosberg will start as favourite for the Chinese Grand Prix title as he has been brilliant this season, winning the Australian and Bahrain Grand Prix as well. There seems to be an air of confidence about Rosberg, who has been in full control of his car in 2016 F1 season.

However, Rosberg was quite disappointed with Hamilton's engine problems as the two dominated the F1 season last year. 

"The whole weekend has gone well. The car was handling well in qualifying, you know, so to get the lap done and to put it on pole, I'm happy about that of course. Not ecstatic, because of course Lewis had bad luck and his car broke down so the fight didn't happen but anyways I'm pleased," F1 official website quoted Rosberg as saying.

Hamilton might not pose a huge threat to Rosberg, but he needs to be on top of his driving, with Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen in second and third place in the grid. Ricciardo and Raikkonen have looked good in the season so far, but they will be keen to win the third race of 2016 – Chinese Grand Prix.

Red Bull's Ricciardo was pleased with the pace of his car in the qualifying session.

"The start of the season, obviously we've only had a couple of races but up until now, this point, I think we've exceeded or maximised everything that we've got. We showed true dry pace today. I got a front row here a couple of years ago but that was in the wet," Ricciardo said.

"We always know we're a bit stronger in the wet, at least the last few years, so to get a front row in dry conditions, it's awesome – and yeah, it's testament to how far we've come since the end of 2015."

Besides the first three drivers in the grid, other drivers like Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) and Sergio Perez (Force India) will be keen to challenge for a podium finish, and collect maximum points as possible.

Where to watch live:

Chinese Grand Prix race timing: 2 p.m. local time (11.30 a.m. IST, 7 a.m. BST, 2 a.m. ET)

Country TV Broadcaster
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Canada TSN
United Kingdom Sky Sports F1
Middle East and North Africa Bein Sports Arabia
Germany, Italy Sky Sport
France Canal+
Asia Fox Sports
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