It doesn't matter which track they are at, Red Bull are proving to be the pick of the bunch in qualifying with Seb Vettel hailing yet another "fantastic" performance from his team.
Although it was widely expected that McLaren would be the better performers this weekend in Shanghai due to the pace advantage of their f-duct down the straights, it was Vettel who emerged victorious in qualifying.
Losing out to McLaren in Q1 and Q2, Vettel found an impressive burst of speed in the final qualifying segment, which put him at the front of the grid with a 1:34.558.
Added to that, his team-mate Mark Webber ensured a Red Bull lock out of the front row as he crossed the line 0.248s off Vettel's pace.
And, unfortunately for Webber, it was the Aussie's set-up that actually helped Vettel get the better of him as the German had been struggling up until that point.
"It was tough today. I was not so happy yesterday and this morning especially Mark was quite a bit quicker than me," said Vettel.
"We did some changes and went a little bit in Mark's direction but it was extremely difficult. I was struggling in the first sector especially but now in qualifying I was purple in sector one.
"I found a line like last year a little bit. I had two very good runs in Q3, the last corner on the first run I was a bit too wide, otherwise it would already have been a good time, but the second run was a bit better everywhere.
"It was a fantastic lap, and the fourth consecutive pole position for Red Bull. We are proving we have a very good car independent of the circuit type. We are always up there.
"Special thanks to the mechanics because they had zero lunch as we required a lot of changes that they had to work from free practice to qualifying."
Looking ahead to Sunday's grand prix, Vettel is expecting rain. But that doesn't worry the German, who won last year's rain-affected Chinese Grand Prix.
"I think it will be raining tomorrow, it's just a question of when," he said. "It will be similar to the last two races. We are not afraid of any rain, for Sunday it looks quite bad if you look at the weather.
"The question is will it be wet throughout the whole race or after the start? We have good memories of the wet conditions last year and if the rain comes it is best to start at the front because you are the one who sees the best. Dry or wet we should be well armed for tomorrow."
Vettel hails 'fantastic' qualifying.
