Vettel on pole for Chinese Grand Prix

By Nick Mulvenney

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel gave his Red Bull team a surprise first pole position ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday.

The 21-year-old German grabbed the second pole position of his Formula One career with a last-gasp lap of one minute 36.184 seconds.

With Red Bull team mate Mark Webber third behind Alonso, the previously dominant Brawn GP cars of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button were pegged back in fourth and fifth.

"Unbelievable that we made it to pole," said Vettel, who became Formula One's youngest race winner in Italy with Toro Rosso last year. "It was not easy. We had some problems with the car and we tried to run as little laps as possible."

Spaniard Alonso, who clocked 1.36.381, was an equally surprising presence in second for Renault, who made some radical changes to their car as they scrambled to catch up with the teams using the controversial rear diffusers.

"It has been strange for us with a completely new car, we went in to qualifying with some doubts and we are very happy with the result for sure," said the twice former world champion.

Australian Webber's time of 1.36.466 was enough to beat the Brawn of Barrichello in fourth with the Brazilian's British team mate Button, who won the first two races of the season from pole, in fifth.

Post-qualifying car weights released by the governing body showed Alonso would start with the lightest car on the grid, 24kg lighter than Barrichello, while Brawn had clearly gone for race pace.