The German star, outperformed by older team-mate Michael Schumacher at the first two grands prix of the season, uncorked a stunning 1:35.121 lap on his very first Q3 run which put him a mammoth half a second clear of the field.

Such was Rosberg's confidence, and obvious satisfaction with his stunning lap, that he then chose to sit out the second Q3 runs altogether, the 26-year-old seen walking to the weigh bridge as nearest challengers Lewis Hamilton and Schumacher tried, and failed, to improve on their own initial laps.

Hamilton remained second on the timesheet, but the five-place penalty he carried into qualifying for a gearbox change means he will drop to seventh on Sunday's grid, meaning Schumacher is promoted to the front row - the first time he has started there since Japan 2006.

Surprise

While Mercedes' first pole as a team owner since the 1950s was a stunning achievement, World Champion Sebastian Vettel's Q2 elimination was arguably even more of a surprise as the German struggled to extract sufficient pace from Red Bull's RB8.

Appearing to be far from happy with the balance of the car despite having opted to run with an older specification exhaust package this weekend, the 24-year-old slipped to 11th right at the last in the second knockout phase despite lapping only three tenths slower than team-mate Mark Webber, who set the Q2 pace.

Indeed, amid a rather unpredictable qualifying hour, Kamui Kobayashi responded to team-mate Sergio Perez's sensational Malaysian GP performance by storming to a career-high third on the grid for Sauber, with returning former World Champion Kimi Raikkonen quietly taking the other second row spot for Lotus once Hamilton's penalty was taken into account.

Jenson Button could only manage sixth, although will start fifth courtesy of team-mate Hamilton's demotion, for McLaren while Webber slipped from the Q2 summit to seventh in the lead Red Bull.

Hustling

Next up was Perez, the Mexican underlining Sauber's continued strong form, with championship leader Fernando Alonso hustling his Ferrari to ninth as Romain Grosjean opted against setting a Q3 time in the second Lotus.

Vettel's 11th place represents his worst qualifying result since the 2009 Brazilian GP, with last season's qualifying supremo reduced to sharing row six with Felipe Massa whose wait for a first 2012 Q3 berth continued - although such were his and Ferrari's struggles throughout practice that there were suggestions the under-pressure Brazilian could even fold as early as Q1.

Duel

Williams duo Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna were separated by a mere six thousandths of a second in 13th and 14th places respectively, the Grove squad outperforming Force India as Paul di Resta made it two-one in his qualifying duel with Nico Hulkenberg.

Toro Rosso proved the slowest of the midfield runners on this occasion and lost rookie Jean-Eric Vergne in the first knockout phase, the Frenchman lapping nearly 0.8s slower than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo alone to join the usual suspects below the cut line.

Vergne, however, may start lower down the grid after stewards chose to investigate an alleged case of blocking on Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen, who qualified directly behind him.

Full Chinese GP grid