(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) anghai April 19 - Mercedes continued its early domination of the 2014 Formula One season Saturday as Lewis Hamilton took pole position in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix. Hamilton who is chasing a hat-trick of wins after victories in Malaysia and Bahrain registered his third pole position in four races with a lap time of 1 minute 53.860 seconds at the Shanghai International Circuit dpa reported. Daniel Ricciardo once again outperformed his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel to qualify in second on the grid 0.595 seconds slower than Hamilton. Vettel starts from third on the grid in Sunday's race ahead of championship leader Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes. Last year's Shanghai winner Fernando Alonso qualified fifth ahead of the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Kimi Raikkonen starts down in a disappointing 11th place in the second Ferrari.