Always end with some good stats I say, and I think we've done that.

Returning to more pertinent matters, it was a very good day for Lewis Hamilton as he claimed his 41st career pole position with an impressive performance at the wheel of the Mercedes.

The double world champion topped every practice session in Shanghai on his way to pole, with team-mate Nico Rosberg trailing unhappily in his wake.

The gap to the Ferraris also looks ominous, but should tyre management come into play in a significant way tomorrow, then the scarlet cars could threaten Hamilton's dominance.

We'll be back with you from 05:30 BST to see what transpires.

Ayrton Senna, when not being eyeballed at close quarters by Alan Pardew's old man (see 09:42), was a demon at the old pole postion game.

He got 65 of them in 162 races, a strike rate of 40.37%. Michael Schumacher's record of 68 was achieved in 308 outings, a 22.15% success record.

Senna's poles were rather more spread around the circuits of the world - 20 to be precise - but he scored five at both Monza and Monaco, six in Adelaide and eight at Imola, the track that claimed his life in 1994.

He was on pole for that fateful race, of course.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Juan Manuel Fangio gives good stat.

He raced in just 51 grands prix (admittedly at a time when there were far fewer races in a season), but won 24 of those (47.06%), claiming 29 pole positions (56.86%), 23 fastest laps (45.10%) and 35 podiums (68.63%). All of that combined made him a five-time world champion.

By comparison his return of five poles at just one venue seems modest - yet it's enough to earn him a place among this small but happy band of record-holders.

His five poles came at Monza, while he also managed four at Spa-Francorchamps, Reims and Monaco.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

We told you earlier that Lewis Hamilton is now in an elite group of four men who can claim to have taken pole position at least five times at one particular F1 track.

In the case of one of those men, Michael Schumacher, the feat was achieved at no fewer than six tracks.

The seven-time world champion took five poles at both Imola and Sepang, six at Montreal, seven at Barcelona and the Hungaroring, and a mildly staggering eight at Suzuka.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Romain Grosjean on Twitter: BOOM, P8 for #8 in Quali today. Great job from my guys to setup the car! Let's bring points tomorrow

Image source, Romain Grosjean

Mercedes on Twitter: Chatting through a Shanghai stunner with David Coulthard & Suzi Perry for @bbcf1: what a lap it was from Lewis Hamilton!

You'll be able to watch this interview in our highlights show at 13:00 BST on BBC One...

Image source, Mercedes

Today's result marks Lewis Hamilton's fifth pole in China, which means he joins Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio in the only drivers to score five or more poles at one particular track.

Image source, Getty Images

Special mention to our social media guru Joel Goldman who sent me this picture of Ayrton Senna along with the caption: "Alan Pardew's dad, furthest right."

Sebastian Vettel, who starts in third, said: "Happy with today - it was a different strategy for us today in Q3, going only once on used set. Mercedes were quicker than expected - P3 was the maximum we could have expected today.

"Hopefully tomorrow will be closer - we're looking forward to going racing - it's not far to turn one. And it's a track where tyres are important."

Image source, AFP

Asked whether he was frustrated at not taking pole, Nico Rosberg said: "Definitely, yeah. When it's four hundredths... that's nothing. I'm frustrated because it's so close."

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP

Lewis Hamilton is understandably a satisfied man after that performance, but the memory of Ferrari's win in Malaysia is still very much on his mind.

"China is continuing to be generally a good circuit for me," he said. "The car is handling fantastically well this weekend, a lot better compared to how it was in Malaysia."

Asked what lessons had been learned after Sepang, the Mercedes driver said: "There's too many to mention but obviously it wasn't the tidiest weekend for us.

"For us on my side of the garage, we've tried to get our full programme in, we've not had any problems this weekend. We've still a tough race ahead because the Ferraris are good on long-run pace, so it's not over by any means."

Fernando Alonso on Twitter: Fantastic work of the whole team to get the car ready for the Qualy! Again, big progress on the car from Malaysia! #GoodTimesComing

Image source, Getty Images

James Weir: Someone had their shreddies for breakfast Lewis Hamilton takes pole for the third time in 3 yrs in China

Luper Daniel: #ChineseGP The Prancing Horse of Vettel simply won't go away. Seems we fixing for another good fight tomorrow.

Wycliffe Alwal: That McLaren who were championship contenders just a few years ago are only faster than Marussia in China qualifying is worrying.

Note the gap of nine tenths of a second between the quickest Mercedes and quickest Ferrari.

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 1m35.782s

2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) - 1m35.824s

3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) - 1m36.687s

4. Felipe Massa (Williams) - 1m36.954s

5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) - 1m37.143s

6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) - 1m37.232

7. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) - 1m37.540s

8. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) - 1m37.905s

9. Felipe Nasr (Sauber) - 1m38.067s

10. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) - 1m38.158s

Although Lewis Hamilton looked mighty today, it's worth noting that he was unable to improve on his final lap, allowing team-mate Nico Rosberg to close to within 0.04secs on his last flyer.

"Oh come on, guys," was Rosberg's response when told of the gap over the team radio.

Still, it was enough for the reigning champion to earn his 41st career pole position.

Image source, Getty Images

That walloping lap from Lewis Hamilton has unsurprisingly secured pole for the Mercedes man.

Team-mate Nico Rosberg will start second ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Image source, AFP

... and the battle looks very much to be over for pole.

Who will be third? Felipe Massa's Williams is the present incumbent but those Ferraris are sniffing around.

You can pretty much stick a fork in this qualifying session.

Lewis Hamilton has just done a 1:35.782. A thumping, trouser-trembling time.

Team-mate Nico Rosberg, as he seems to have done for much of the weekend, trails by three tenths.

Image source, AFP

Williams on Twitter: Felipe Massa has switched to a lower downforce facial hair setup for today

Goatee? Gawn.

Image source, Williams

Q3 is off and running.

How fast can you go, Lewis?

McLaren on Twitter: Both cars back in the garage and being prepped for parc ferme. Progress has been made but there's still a lot of work to do