Mercedes were celebrating their first front-row lock-out since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix at Monza and driver Nico Rosberg’s maiden pole position, on a day of Formula One firsts in Shanghai.

Rosberg described it as “a very special day” after he demolished the field to take pole for the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

His team-mate and fellow German Michael Schumacher was third fastest but takes second place on the grid.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who was second fastest in qualifying, already knew he would be hit with a five-place penalty for a gearbox infraction, making it a Mercedes one-two.

“Firstly it was a strange feeling because I was watching the end of Q3 (final qualifying) from the garage as we decided to save a set of option tyres for the race, and I couldn’t do anything but watch,” said Rosberg, 26.

“Seeing that I finished at the top of the timesheets and with half a second in hand made me the happiest man today.

“Thanks to the team, everyone here and in the factories, who have done a great job to develop and improve our Silver Arrow.

“We don’t know what will happen in the race and it will be a challenge to stay in front, but for the moment, I will enjoy starting next to Michael from the front row.”

Seven-time world champion Schumacher said it was “a special day for our Mercedes-Benz team”.

“It’s a great result, and I am very happy for everybody. Congratulations to Nico, he achieved his first pole position with a just fabulous lap. I can easily respect he did the better job today, and I am happy for him.”