Nico Rosberg stormed to pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix as Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton ended up last.
The Chinese Grand Prix marked the return to the old 2015 format, following two unsuccessful attempts with the elimination-style system in Australia and Bahrain.
After progressing through Q2 on the softer tyre, Rosberg clocked a 1m35.402s on a set of super-softs to go quickest in the dying moments of the final shoot-out to secure his first pole of 2016.
Mercedes will start from the very front and the very back of the grid after Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q1 – the world champion failing to set a time after an ERS issue.
Daniel Ricciardo took a surprise second on the grid with a strong lap, snatching a spot on the front row from the Ferraris.
Kimi Raikkonen was on provisional pole after the first runs in Q3, but the Finn made a mistake at the penultimate corner and failed to improve, leaving him third, with team-mate Sebastian Vettel fourth after a single run in the shootout.
Valtteri Bottas was fifth fastest for Williams, ahead of Daniil Kvyat, SergioPerez and Carlos Sainz Jr.
Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top-10 but failed to appear in Q3 after losing his front-left wheel at the end of Q2, forcing him to park his car.
This incident prompted a late red flag, preventing drivers from completing a second run, which eliminated Felipe Massa.
The two McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, Haas’s Romain Grosjean and the Sauber duo of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were all similalry knocked out in Q2.
Despite rain in the morning, track conditions improved enough for dry tyres in time for the start of qualifying, but damp patches caught out Pascal Wehrlein early in Q1.
His Manor hit a bump and a patch of standing water on the pit straight and spun into the wall, ending his qualifying session early and bringing out a lengthy red flag.
Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Gutierrez, Jolyon Palmer and Rio Haryanto were also eliminated in the first segment of qualifying after late improvements from the two Saubers.
