Toto Wolff said Lewis Hamilton alone made the difference between pole position and second on the grid in China after Mercedes beat Ferrari in qualifying.
In another tight Q3 fight between the two teams looking likely to be the main protagonists in this year's championship, Hamilton beat Vettel to pole -- as he did at the Australian Grand Prix -- by 0.186s. Ferrari had dominated FP2 and the early stages of qualifying, so much that Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda was backing the Italian team for pole, but Hamilton's Q3 laps proved decisive.
When asked what was the key in overhauling Ferrari's early advantage, Mercedes boss Wolff replied: "Lewis Hamilton. We have seen in the last years that we were able to ramp up our game over the sessions, and that Q3 looked much better than the other sessions.
"I think the same happened here, it's learning about the car's behaviour and driving it and giving it everything in the final go. I'm not saying the the others are not doing it. Today clearly he made the difference ... Similar to Melbourne."
Wolff may well have been celebrating a Mercedes front row lockout where Valtteri Bottas' car 6 centimetres shorter, with the Finn beaten into second position by the margin of just 0.001s. However, Wolff applauded his effort and noted the smaller gap between his drivers compared to Melbourne.
"You must give credit to Valtteri also because it's the second race Valtteri is doing in the team. There was no running on Friday and here he's less than two-tenths off Lewis. So I'm very happy also about his development slope."