Lewis Hamilton hails 'great' Chinese GP pole and now aims for first Mercedes win

An "ecstatic" Lewis Hamilton is now setting his sights on claiming his first victory for Mercedes on the back of an emphatic maiden pole position for the team in China.

But although grid position, as ever in F1, is important, Sunday's 56-lap race is likely to be decided by which drivers manage their tyres the best across the distance with the softer compound Hamilton and his fellow top runners must now start on set to last less than ten laps. And with Red Bull having deliberately sacrificed a shot at pole with Sebastian Vettel to ensure they can start on the more durable medium tyres, Hamilton acknowledges translating the pole into victory will be far from straightforward - but nonetheless he isn't ruling out his chances. "These tyres are very tricky this weekend," the 28-year-old told Sky Sports F1. "The two closest guys [Raikkonen and Alonso] will be the biggest challenge. The Ferrari is massively quick on the first lap and so is Kimi. And Kimi is particularly very strong with looking after the option tyres so it's going to be very hard to keep them behind. "After that when we get on to the primes I think we are in a good position but it's just a matter of how much ground we can maintain or try not to lose in the first stint."