What qualifying says about the Chinese Grand Prix

Free practice is done, qualifying is done, and we just have the race left tomorrow in Shanghai, so let's take a look at what today's qualifying says about tomorrow's race!

Mercedes were the clear favourites heading into the season, as the German team have won four titles in a row and showed no signs of slowing down. Vettel has won both of the first two races, however. You could argue the first one in Melbourne was lucky, but last week in Bahrain it was crystal clear that Ferrari had the quicker car.

Today, Ferrari got another one-two in qualifying, with Sebastian Vettel edging out Kimi Raikkonen to take his second consecutive pole position in a row. Mercedes couldn't make a fist and really get anywhere near the prancing horses, who were in a battle of their own. Ferrari is now the team to beat.

Everyone already suspected it, but today's qualifying session confirmed that Pierre Gasly's outing in Bahrain was a complete one-off. To be fair to the Frenchman, that only makes last weekend's overall performance more impressive, because the Toro Rosso clearly had no business competing at the top of midfield.

Gasly didn't make it out of Q1 today, as he clinched P17, two places behind teammate Brendon Hartley, and eleven places behind where he qualified last week. He followed that qualifying performance by incredibly finishing in fourth, but a week later, that now looks like a fluke rather than an indication what's to come from Toro Rosso.

McLaren-people keep talking about how they want to challenge the Big Three and that they want to finish as the best of the rest this season, but frankly they're nowhere near that right now. They still haven't made it to Q3 a single time (P13 & P14 today), whereas teams like Renault and Haas found themselves there on all three qualifying rounds this season.

McLaren is a midfield, middle of the pack team that has one of the best drivers in the business, that's it. Alonso might be able to squeeze out some good performances on the Sundays, but the Woking-based team need to realize that they still have a long way to go. They're still the worst Renault-powered team as of now.