Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRace weekend

LIVE: Chinese Grand Prix - Race

Follow live coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix with F1i's live commentary page.

Today's race, the third of the 2016 world championship, gets underway at 1400 local time at the Shanghai International Circuit. After a wet day yesterday, conditions are much improved with warm, sunny conditions which are leading to higher track temperatures than were seen during practice on Friday.

LIVE: Chinese Grand Prix - Race Day

Mercedes' Nico Rosberg will start on pole position, his first pole of the season. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was eliminated from the first round of qualifying on Saturday with ERS issues, meaning the reigning world champion will start from the very back of the grid today.

Not that Rosberg exactly cruised to the top in qualifying. There were very spirited challenges from both Red Bull and Ferrari, and it's Daniel Ricciardo and his 'go faster' hair cut that will line-up alongside Rosberg on the front row today.

The second row is an all-Ferrari lock-out with Kimi Raikkonen just holding off Sebastian Vettel. Both made mistakes in the hairpin in their final qualifying run, and if it hadn't been for that then it's a big question whether Rosberg would have held on for pole position. Moreover, Ferrari enjoyed strong starts in Australia while Mercedes has struggled off the line so there's a chance that they could surge into the lead into the first corner when the lights go out.

Williams' Valtteri Bottas starts fifth alongside Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat who hasn't been liking his tyres this weekend. Sergio Perez put in a strong qualifying showing to finish in seventh place ahead of the two Toro Rossos of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen. The second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg also made the top ten but was hit with a three-place grid penalty for a loose wheel, meaning he will start from 13th.

Felipe Massa just missed out on making Q3 as a result of the red flag caused by Hulkenberg, and then it's McLaren team-mates Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in what is a marked upturn in the Woking-based team's fortunes on 2015. Alonso is back in action this weekend after missing Bahrain: while he admits that still in some discomfort from the fractured ribs he sustained in that horror crash in Melbourne last month, he describes the pain as "manageable".

But now all eyes turn to the grid in Shanghai, as we get ready to see whether Rosberg can make is six race wins in a row and his third of 2016, or whether Ferrari and Red Bull are going to make a fight of it...

F1i's live page has been updated to bring you a better user experience, while the coverage will bring you all the latest information about what is happening on track as well as news and features from the paddock.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.