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Chinese Grand Prix qualifying: Hamilton takes pole for Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has grabbed his first pole position for Mercedes for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix, with team mate Nico Rosberg in fourth putting second place Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus and third place Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari in a Mercedes sandwich. Felipe Massa takes fifth in the second Ferrari and Grosjean sixth in the second Lotus with the Toro Rosso of Ricciardo in seventh, but it’s behind that the things get more interesting, especially in a race context. Behind the leading seven are Jenson Button in the McLaren and Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull, but both are on different strategies to the rest of the leaders and will start tomorrow’s race on the medium tyres they used for final qualifying instead of the soft tyres.

Audi ascending

Ford has owned the International Consumer Electronics show the last few years, but now a host of other automakers are making their presence felt at the techno party. Case in point: Audi AG CEO Rupert Stadler's appearance as a keynote speaker Thursday morning at the Las Vegas Hilton. Actor James Cromwell, from I, Robot movie fame, introduced Stadler, who rolled onto stage in an e-tron Spyder concept car.

New Rolls Royce Wraith on the road (video)

The new Rolls Royce Wraith hits the road The new Rolls Royce Wraith – revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March – is Rolls Royce’s answer to the sport credentials of Bentley, and it’s a convincing effort. Essentially a Ghost Coupe, the Wraith’s styling is, perhaps, a little jarring with its almost dog humping back end, but from some angles it also looks remarkably elegant for a two door coupe that’s the size of a delivery truck. But the key to the Wraith’s appeal – apart from the sumptuous fixtures and fittings – is its dynamism and power, with 624bhp on tap from its v12 (and an earth-turning 590lb/ft of torque too) enough to shift the Wraith to 60mph in a very un-Rolls Royce 4.4 seconds.