CHINESE GP – Lewis Hamilton beats Max Verstappen by two hundredths to take first Ferrari pole in sprint qualifying
Lewis Hamilton has taken his first pole as a Ferrari driver in sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, the Englishman set a 30.849 going nearly two hundredths faster than Max Verstappen. In recent weeks Hamilton had spoken about needing to find his feet and needing to learn lessons from last weekend in Melbourne.
It’s a sensational bounce back following his tough debut in Melbourne as it seemed like more evidence of Hamilton during his dominance with Mercedes, he was in the mix throughout sprint qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit. Perhaps its further evidence of the seven-time champion being re-energised by his sensation move to Ferrari at the start of 2025.
Hamilton is the oldest pole sitter in thirty years and the first forty-year-old to take pole in any format since Nigel Mansell in Adelaide in 1994, which he then went on to win.
After Ferrari’s difficulties in Melbourne when the SF-25 proved surprisingly off the leading pace despite a more promising showing in pre-season testing, Hamilton had said on Thursday he was going to try a different set-up on the car this weekend. It looked similar to the expected pace from Ferrari shown in Bahrain Testing three weeks ago.
The team managed to get the car in a better set-up window in China, where Hamilton has won more races than any other driver, and the car’s pace was transformed.
Hamilton had looked on fire all day at a circuit where he has taken six Grand Prix poles and victories, setting a new track record. He will be looking to follow in Sebastian Vettel’s footsteps by taking victory on his second race start. the seven-time World Champion initially could not believe it, “Really?” Hamilton asked with several laughs.
Verstappen believes their performance was better than he expected after a difficult practice session. The four-time world champion said, “I am very happy. I do think that in the first practice, we were quite a bit off. So I am happy to be on the front row. The lap was very good. I don’t think we should have been on the front row, so I am very happy with second.”
Oscar Piastri put his McLaren third going seven hundredths behind Verstappen, as he went a tenth faster than Charles Leclerc. Piastri had taken provisional pole but was beaten by both Hamilton and Verstappen, while a mistake on his SQ3 runs cost him the opportunity to fight for pole.
Leclerc had looked on the backfoot throughout sprint qualifying when compared to Hamilton, and was surprised when instructed to let Hamilton through ahead of him when running on their final out-laps of SQ2.
Hamilton said, “To come here to a track that I love, Shanghai, a beautiful place, the weather’s been amazing, and the car really came alive from Lap 1. We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I’m a bit in shock, I can’t believe it’s actually… we got a pole in the Sprint.”
Verstappen said he believed he had performed better than he expected after a difficult practice session. The four-time world champion said, “I am very happy. I do think that in the first practice, we were quite a bit off. So I am happy to be on the front row. The lap was very good. I don’t think we should have been on the front row, so I am very happy with second.”
Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris could only go sixth, behind both Charles Leclerc and George Russell, as he made also made mistakes on his runs which cost him the opportunity to fight for pole. McLaren had looked quick in FP1 when he was nearly half a second faster than Leclerc, and up until that error looked to be the favourite for pole.
McLaren unlike Ferrari and Red Bull went for two runs on the single set of soft (C4) tyres mandated in sprint qualifying, and the error for Norris at Turn Thirteen on his first attempt would have taken the best out of his tyres.
Norris was three and a half tenths faster than Kimi Antonelli, the Italian bouncing back from his Q1 knock out six days ago in Melbourne. The Englishman said, “made a mistake, locked up in the last corner. We struggled a lot with the car. Not quick enough. The difficulties we have been struggling with showed a lot more today.
“Too many mistakes, too difficult our car to drive. We have been struggling with front locking and in the first corner with tail winds. When the wind is blowing, we struggle a lot more. Just pushing a bit hard to try to make up for not quite being quick enough.”
In last Sunday’s Grand Prix in Antonelli recovered with a fine clean race to finish fourth. Antonelli put his Mercedes four hundredths faster than the Racing Bull of Yuki Tsunoda while the Williams showed strong pace once again, Alex Albon going ninth ahead of Lance Stroll by more than a tenth.
Stroll made it through, but his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso was knocked out in SQ2, the Spaniard was a quarter of a second behind Leclerc. Alonso was a tenth and three quarters faster than the Haas of Ollie Bearman, the Englishman continuing his strong start to his first full season.
Bearman spilt the two Spaniards as he went three-tenths faster than Carlos Sainz, both drivers showing marked improvements once again for both Haas and Williams. The Englishman bounced back from two tough races in Sao Paulo and Melbourne where he crashed in the Grand Prix and FP3 respectively, putting himself twelfth.
Bearman had also put in a late improvement at the end of SQ1 going tenth seeing him safely through into SQ2.
Gabriel Bortoletto put his Sauber fourteenth, the Brazilian was two-tenths behind Sainz while Isack Hadjar failed to set a time in SQ2. Jack Doohan was fastest of those knocked out in SQ1, the Alpine almost four hundredths behind Sainz and ahead of Gasly by seven hundredths of a second. With Bortoletto and Doohan both out-qualified their experienced team-mates Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg.
Esteban Ocon was eighteenth going nearly a quarter of a tenth faster than Hulkenberg, while the Red Bull of Liam Lawson had his fastest time deleted for track limits leaving him last. Lawson was three tenths off Verstappen on his best lap, having complained about tyre struggles.