After a Sprint that saw battles up and down the field, the grid had to be determined during qualifying for the F1 Chinese GP. Can Lewis Hamilton repeat his result for the qualifying proper or will McLaren rediscover their early weekend form?
Q1
First out on track was Lance Stroll as a large line of cars immediately wanted to get a time on the board. Stroll’s opening effort of 1:33.024 was quicly topped by both Kick Saubers, as Jack Doohan had the first spin of the session in turn 9.
Lando Norris was the first of the front runners with a lap of 1:32.036. Sprint-winner Lewis Hamilton quickly improved that time before Oscar Piastri did even better. Norris’s time was later deleted for track limits in turn 9.
Next up top is Max Verstappen. The world champion takes a little over a tenth out of Piastri’s time. Andrea Kimi Antonelli goes a little wide in the last turn, unsettling the car a bit.
Liam Lawson’s first effort is a second off his team mate’s pace, putting him just 15th for the moment.
Ollie Bearman escapes the drop zone by going seventh, as each of the top teams have a driver in the drop zone currently.
Charles Leclerc improves to tenth, Norris to sixth and Antonelli to third, as Lawson is being investigated for ignoring yellow flags.
Before the final flurry of laps, the field is within a little over one second. This highlights the current level of competition, but it also shows the drivers need to bring their A-game.
Hamilton has a big slide in turn 2, preventing him to improve his time for the moment.
With the track rubbering in and improving, everyone is out on track, except Verstappen. Leclerc goes to second, as Yuki Tsunoda goes to the top briefly. He is quickly demoted by Isack Hadjar and Norris, whereas Lawson fails to get out of Q1 again.
Knocked out from Q1 are:
- Gasly
- Bearman
- Doohan
- Bortoleto
- Lawson
Q2
The second part of qualifying for the Chinese GP starts with Esteban Ocon going out first. His 1:31.795 does not stand for long as both Mercedes drivers better that. Tsunoda goes second before both McLarens shoot to the top, with Norris improving Piastri’s time by more than four tenths.
Ferrari’s drivers disappoint in their first laps, as Verstappen slots in behind the McLarens. At the moment both Aston Martins are in the drop zone, joined by Hadjar, Ocon and Carlos Sainz.
Antonelli backs out of his second attempt following a little bit of unbalance in the car and complains about his ‘magic’-button being stuck. Team mate George Russell powers through, but fails to improve.
Hamilton has a scrappy lap and improves to sixth, but is bettered by Leclerc just a few moment later.
Hadjar goes out the drop zone to fourth, as Antonelli fails to improve, just as Fernando Alonso, Stroll and Sainz.
This means that knocked out from Q2 are:
- Ocon
- Hülkenberg
- Alonso
- Stroll
- Sainz
Q3
Verstappen decided to pick up the gauntlet for the final part of qualifying for the Chinese GP. Russell however feels like setting the time first, overtaking Verstappen into turn 1.
Alex Albon gets a warning that the wind is picking up, meaning we might see a few mistakes left and right. Russell abandoned his first lap, which gives Verstappen the opportunity to draw first blood with 1:30.925. Antonelli goes through the gravel of the final turn again, resulting in a poor time that is being deleted as well.
Hadjar goes second, Tsunoda third, before Piastri beats Verstappen’s time by more than two tenths. Hamilton goes to provisional third with team mate Leclerc slotting in behind him.
Championship leader Norris goes to second, as Russell splits the Ferrari’s to complete the opening runs.
Coming out of the pits Hadjar gets thrown into the path of Verstappen, who overtakes the young Frenchman during the out-lap for the final attempts.
Verstappen comes one tenth short for pole, while Hadjar improves to seventh. Norris bails out on his final attempt, as Hamilton remains in fourth.
Piastri improves his time ever so slightly as Leclerc is also unable to find some time. However, Russell can. The young Briton comes within a tenth of Piastri, but eventuall has to leave pole position to Piastri.
A first pole for the Melbourne-native means the final qualifying order looks like:
- Piastri
- Russell
- Norris
- Verstappen
- Hamilton
- Leclerc
- Hadjar
- Antonelli
- Tsunoda
- Albon
- Ocon
- Hülkenberg
- Alonso
- Stroll
- Sainz
- Gasly
- Bearman
- Doohan
- Bortoleto
- Lawson
