Hamilton Chinese Sprint Pole – Sir Lewis Hamilton scored his first pole position for Ferrari in Qualifying for tomorrow’s F1 Sprint race beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a slim 0.018 seconds.
In SQ3, the initial flyers saw Piastri score two purples in the final two sectors to go provisional pole with a 1:30.929 and was 0.240 seconds quicker than Russell who split the McLaren duo as Norris fell 0.464 seconds off his team-mate.
Then came Hamilton who scored two personal bests and a purple middle sector to take P1 breaking the lap record with a blistering 1:30.849 sending Piastri into second whilst Leclerc with three personal best efforts wound up behind the McLaren in third.
Norris abandoned his final flyer to end up fifth until Verstappen set two personal bests in the opening sectors and a purple sector three to slot in second and 0.018 seconds behind Hamilton to line up on the front row alongside his 2021 title rival and sent the former to sixth.
Mercedes’ George Russell slotted into fifth whilst his team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli took seventh in the other F1 W16 Silver Arrow.
Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda took eighth as Williams’ Alexander Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top ten.
In SQ2, which was topped by Norris, late improvements from Mercedes pairing Russell and Antonelli eliminated both Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Oliver Bearman into 11th and 12th respectively.
Atlassian Williams Racing’s Carlos Sainz reported a seat issue aboard his FW47 as the Spaniard wound up 13th.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto took 14th despite personal bests whilst RB’s Isack Hadjar had a wild moment into the first corner and aborted his flyer to end up the slowest of the SQ2 runners in 15th.
In SQ1, which was topped by Hamilton, a flurry of improvements saw Bearman eliminate Alpine’s Jack Doohan with three personal bests as the latter also had his lap-time deleted for exceeding track limits. The Australian starts the Sprint 16th.
The other Alpine A525 entry of Pierre Gasly wound up 17th and ahead of Haas’s Esteban Ocon who could only improve up to 18th.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson brought up the rear.
You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix 2025 Sprint Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1255/china/sprint-qualifying
2025 Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying Pole Position – Sir Lewis Hamilton, #44, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-25 – 1:30.849:
“I didn’t expect that result, but so happy and proud. The last race was a disaster for us, there was more performance in the car, but we couldn’t extract it. The team did a fantastic job to get the car ready, I’m in shock – I can’t believe we have a pole for the Sprint. My first sector was really strong, but there’s still time to find for sure. It’s amazing to see the ‘No. 1’ as you stop, and the red car, it’s incredible. I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain, and last weekend was in the wet so tomorrow will be my first race run in the dry.”
#F1 #ChineseGP FP1: @LandoNorris pips @CharlesLeclerc by 0.454s.