Hamilton, who had also topped Saturday morning's final practice session, never look like being challenged throughout the qualifying hour.
Lewis Hamilton managed to make the most of the adverse conditions to take pole position for Sunday's race.
World champion Lewis Hamilton, back in the car after his COVID-19-enforced absence at last week's Sakhir Grand Prix, was third but only 0.086 seconds off the pace.
"The comparison? I see still Ayrton winning the game because in the end Ayrton was such a charming guy and a personality. And obviously if someone loses his life and stays with us in the way of a legend, it's always something special. But I try to see it from a performance point and from a performance point, Lewis is going from one pole position to the next one and Lewis is going from one race win to the next one. Just like Ayrton did."
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Charles Leclerc crashed at the end of qualifying for his home Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday
Britain's Jenson Button will stand in for Fernando Alonso at next month's Monaco Formula One Grand Prix while the Spaniard competes in the Indianapolis 500 on the same day, McLaren announced on Friday.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen went fastest in Styrian Grand Prix practice, on Friday, while Australian Daniel Ricciardo crashed his Renault
The double world champion failed to score a point in his final race for McLaren, finishing tantalisingly close in 11th place after making up four positions, but the Spaniard went out fighting to the last.
Verstappen leads seven times world champion Hamilton by six points with six races remaining and the pole at Austin's Circuit of the Americas was the ninth of the season for the Dutch 24-year-old -- and eighth in the last 11 races.
Hamilton has won the last three races, out of four so far in this COVID-19 affected season, and will start as favourite again.
He won a high-profile privacy case against the News of the World newspaper in 2008 after it said he had taken part in a "sick Nazi orgy".
Verstappen led from start to finish at Austria's Red Bull Ring, with seven-time world champion Hamilton second for Mercedes.
Former world champion Fernando Alonso doubts he will make it onto the Formula One podium this season after also enduring his worst points tally last year, but has no immediate plans to retire.
'If we want to go to Asia, or America, I think it's going to be when we get on planes and have to fly overseas where I think the risk will start to potentially get greater.'
Formula One offered fans a glimpse of the future on Thursday with a presentation of what cars will look like next season when the sport undergoes a rules revamp to make racing closer and more exciting.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix will be the 1,000th race of the Formula One world championship since the first at Silverstone in 1950.
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton dominated the Styrian Grand Prix in a Mercedes one-two on Sunday to celebrate his 85th Formula One win and move a step closer to Michael Schumacher's record of 91 victories. Finnish Team mate Valtteri Bottas, winner of last weekend's season-opener behind closed doors at the same Austrian circuit, finished a distant runner-up with his championship lead cut to six points.
Mexican Formula One driver Sergio Perez will miss Sunday's British Grand Prix after testing positive for COVID-19, his Racing Point team said on Thursday. The Canadian-owned outfit said the 30-year-old, who is the first driver to test positive since the pandemic-hit season started this month, is "physically well and in good spirits".
The double world champion retired his McLaren for the second race in a row while he had been running in a points-scoring position.
Silverstone would be willing to host an unprecedented two successive Grands Prix without spectators to help Formula One fight back from the coronavirus crisis, circuit boss Stuart Pringle said on Sunday. The season has yet to start but the Liberty Media-owned sport's management are hoping to get going in the European summer with a revised and reduced schedule that could run into next year.
The pole was Charles Leclerc's second in a row
Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for Formula One's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, with seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton alongside on the front row for Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc seized the first pole position of his Formula One career on Saturday with Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel second fastest to lock out the front row for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Briton will be stand-in driver for Fernando Alonso at Monaco GP
World championship leader Lewis Hamilton put himself on course for a third successive Grand Prix victory after grabbing an emphatic pole position for Sunday's Hungarian race. The Briton powered around the blisteringly hot Hungaroring track in one minute 20.899 seconds, with team mate Heikki Kovalainen posting the second best time of 1:21.140s.
The International Olympic Committee's decision to reject calls to ban all Russian competitors from the Rio Olympics could lead to "lesser protection for clean athletes," the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said on Sunday.
McLaren's Fernando Alonso put in a day's work in the team's Formula One simulator on Wednesday ahead of his expected return to the racetrack in Malaysia next week after his crash in pre-season testing.
'My bench mate at school was Shashi Kapoor and we were together from KG right up to the 10th standard.'
Lewis Hamilton has competed with Alonso, Raikkonen, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher and Vettel, champions all of them, and he has come out on top.
Formula One breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after the sport's new 'halo' head protection device saved Charles Leclerc from what might have been a potentially serious impact.
The Mercedes driver smashed the Monza track record with a sensational lap of one minute 18.887 seconds to lead team mate Valtteri Bottas in another front row lockout.
Hamilton said he only realised the significance of what he had done when he came into the pitlane after taking the chequered flag.
Hamilton wrapped up his record-equalling seventh title in Turkey last month and picked up his 11th win of the season in Bahrain on Sunday. Mercedes have already won the constructors' title for an unprecedented seventh year in a row.
Formula One has put almost half its staff on furlough until the end of May due to the novel coronavirus with chairman Chase Carey and senior management also taking a pay cut, an F1 spokesman said on Tuesday. Sources said those on furlough were mainly employees whose work was focused on race weekend activities and who could not carry out duties remotely. The Liberty Media-owned company employs in excess of 500 people.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Monday recommended that the IOC and International Paralympic Committee should consider banning all athletes entered by the Russian Olympic Committee for next month's Rio Olympics.
Given how well Hamilton drove last weekend to win the Styrian GP in Austria, few would bet against the British driver securing an eighth success
Images from the Tuscan F1 Grand Prix held at at Mugello, Scarperia e San Piero in Tuscany, Italy, on Sunday.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will be staying in Formula One for the next two years at least after he and Mercedes announced a contract extension on Saturday.
Formula One got back on track in changed circumstances on Friday but with Mercedes bringing a familiar look to the timing sheets as six times World champion Lewis Hamilton led team mate Valtteri Bottas one-two in Austrian Grand Prix free practice. The Briton did 41 laps and lapped with a best time of one minute 04.816 seconds in a damp and overcast session, 0.356 faster than the Finn.
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