Chinese Grand Prix 2016: Lewis Hamilton admits podium finish may be out of the question as he starts last in China

Lewis Hamilton admitted that a third straight podium finish could be beyond him after an engine failure in qualifying means he will start Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix at the rear of the grid.

Hamilton could only sit and watch as his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg snatched pole late in a qualifying session that reverted to last season’s format, with the two-time reigning champion facing the prospect of losing further ground to the German who is bidding for a sixth consecutive victory that stretches back to last year’s Mexico Grand Prix.

With Hamilton already 17 points behind Rosberg after taking second in Australia and third in Bahrain – both race won by Rosberg – he faces the possibility of being 42 points behind his team-mate when the championship arrives in Russia on 1 May.

The 31-year-old conceded that a podium may be too much to ask for given the pace of the Ferraris and, more surprisingly, the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, and he admitted he will be satisfied with a points finish despite winning more Chinese Grand Prix’s than any other driver.

Two years ago Hamilton started at the back of the field in Hungary, a track notorious for being difficult to overtake, yet managed to fight his way through to third, but the three-time world champion says that race will not factor into his thinking when he lines up on the grid later today.

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"I don't take encouragement from that race,” Hamilton said after qualifying. “I take encouragement from the fact I have been driving a long time, so I have had the experiences since I've been young. There is no question in my mind as to how I am going to battle through tomorrow.

"Whether or not I can get all the way to third, that is going to be a very tough challenge, because you have got the Red Bulls that are quick, the two Ferraris and Nico, so just getting into the points is my goal.

"This is how it was when I first started racing. I use to battle my way through the field, so it is reminiscent of my younger days.

"There has never been a race where I have started at the back and not enjoyed."

For Rosberg though, the pole came as something of a surprise. The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen topped Q2 and both he and team-mate Sebastian Vettel looked more likely to set the fastest lap time in Q3, only to choke after Rosberg had set an impressive benchmark more than half a second faster than anyone else.

"To get the lap done and to put it on pole, I am happy of course, but I am not ecstatic because Lewis had bad luck and his car broke down and the fight between us didn't take place,” Rosberg said.

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Raikkonen admitted his disappointment at not securing a first pole position in nearly eight years after he made a mistake on his final lap when he ran deep into the hairpin at the end of the kilometre-long back straight.

"On the last one I was quite a bit up on that lap and I just ran wide on the hairpin and obviously I lost a lot of time," said Raikkonen.

"It is a shame as I think we had a chance to even be on the top today, but that's how it goes and we will try to make the best out of it tomorrow.

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"I am quite disappointed about what happened in qualifying, but third is not a bad place to start."

Raikkonen starts third due to the surprise package of the day in the form of Ricciardo, with the Australian using his final lap to leapfrog the two Ferraris and guarantee a first Red Bull front-row start since Singapore last season.

Despite heavy downpour on Saturday morning affecting the early running – with Manor F1’s Pascal Wehrlein losing control after running over a damp patch on the start-finish straight and hitting the wall – the final session took place in dry conditions, and the pace in the Red Bull pleased Ricciardo, who described the result as “awesome”.

"I wouldn't say I would have expected to be here if it was wet, but the fact that I am here I would have assumed it was a wet qualifying," Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.

"So to be here on the front row with a dry qualifying is just awesome. I'm really happy.

"I knew my first lap in Q3 was pretty good so when I crossed the line again and saw I'd got four tenths off that I thought 'we might be on chance for a top three here'. Then I saw the scoreboard and saw I was second.

"I'm definitely in a good place right now driving, happy and as a team we are showing some strong signs. So that is positive."

Vettel could only manage fourth ahead of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Ricciardo’s Red Bull team-mate Daniil Kvyat. The Force India of Sergio Perez starts seventh ahead of the Toro Rosso pair of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen. Nico Hulkenberg, who completes the top 10, failed to take any part in Q3 after causing a red flag the end Q2 prematurely after his front-left wheel came off his Force India.