Formula 1: Chinese Grand Prix Free Practice One and Sprint Qualifying Recap

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Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position for Ferrari in the Sprint qualifying session, while also setting a new lap record at the Shanghai International Circuit of 1m 30.849.

Lewis will be joined on the front row for Saturday's Sprint Race with Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc founding out the top four. Last week's Australian Grand Prix winner will start the Spring race in sixth.

Lando Norris topped the timesheet in the only practice session of the weekend.

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Free Practice One

Top 10 Results
1) Lando Norris       1m 31.504s
2) Charles Leclerc     +0.454
3) Oscar Piastri         +0.649
4) Lewis Hamilton     +0.691
5) George Russell     +0.873
6) Nico Hulkenberg   +1.003
7) Alex Albon             +1.183
8) Fernando Alonso  +1.262
9) Kimi Antonelli       +1.370
10) Yuki Tsunoda      +1.430

During Friday's only practice session at the Chinese Grand Prix, Lando Norris set the fastest time, with the McLaren driver leading the timesheets ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and his teammate, Oscar Piastri. 

The session began at 11:30 local time with Ollie Bearman, driving for Haas, leading a queue of cars all on medium tires. The rookies were eager to recover from a tough outing last week in Melbourne. Early in the session, Red Bull's Liam Lawson and Williams' Alex Albon both had minor excursions into the gravel. Albon reported an issue, stating that there was "something loose" around the pedals of his FW47.

A red flag was subsequently waved when Jack Doohan, driving for Alpine, pulled off the track due to a power steering issue. This caused a flurry of activity as the green light signaled the resumption of the session with only seven minutes remaining. A line of cars formed in the pit lane as most drivers were keen to complete a run on soft tires.

Bearman, Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin, Esteban Ocon from Haas, Pierre Gasly from Alpine, and Carlos Sainz from Williams occupied positions 11 to 15, respectively. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen was down in 16th place for Red Bull after aborting his lap on soft tires, meaning he did not achieve a competitive time during the session.​

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Sprint Qualifying

SQ1

Out In SQ1
16) Jack Doohan
17) Pierre Gasly
18) Esteban Ocon
19) Nico Hulkenberg
20) Liam Lawson

Cars lined up to get out of the pit lane, and Mercedes headed out on the track first.

In Sprint Qualifying, all drivers must use new medium tyres for SQ1 and SQ2, with soft tyres being used only in SQ3.

Most drivers took a couple of laps to prepare the tyres before getting a qualifying lap in. Verstappen, Hadjar, Tsunoda and Bortoleto were among the first to set lap times, with the circuit ramping up after being resurfaced before the Grand Prix weekend.

Antonelli took a little trip off the track, with one second separating the top ten. Stroll and Bearman were both noted for impeding. Along with Russell was noted for impeding Tsunoda, but both had no further investigation.
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With just over two minutes to go in SQ1, Tsunoda, Sainz, Bearman, Bortoleto, and Ocon were in the drop zone. Liam Lawson had his last lap deleted for track limits and ended up 20th.

Jack Doohan, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson were knocked out in SQ1. Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets, followed by Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

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SQ2

Out In SQ 2
11) Fernando Alonso
12) Oliver Bearman
13) Carlos Sainz
14) Gabriel Bortoleto
15) Isack Hadjar

Russell and Antonelli were first out on track again, along with Norris, Piastri, Verstappen, Hamilton and Bortoleto.

With three minutes to go, Albon, Alonso, Hadjar, Bearman, Tsunoda, and Stroll were in the bottom six, while Norris and Piastri were at the top of the timesheet.

Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjak were all knocked out in SQ2. Lando Norris topped the timesheet, followed by George Russell and Oscar Piastri.

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SQ3

Sprint Race Starting Top 10
1) Lewis Hamilton        1m 30.849
2) Max Verstappen         +0.018
3) Oscar Piastri              +0.080
4) Charles Leclerc          +0.208
5) George Russell          +0.320
6) Lando Norris              +0.544
7) Kimi Antonelli             +0.889
8) Yuki Tsunoda              +0.924
9) Alex Albon                  +1.003
10) Lance Stroll              +1.133

Piastri was first out on track in SQ3, followed by Lando Norris, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with others opting to stay in the garage a little longer, following on the soft compound tyres later in the session.

Norris and Piastri were the first to set times in the session, with Piastri setting a time of 1m 30.929s, taking provisional sprint pole, with Russell and Antonelli also setting early lap times, getting in a flying lap before the other cars headed out to the track.

The rest of the drivers headed out on track with time to do one flying lap with two minutes to go.​

Lewis Hamilton takes Pole Position for the Chinese Sprint Race, followed by Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton thanks the crowd in Shanghai and says he didn't expect the result. "So, so happy and proud," he adds.

"The last race was a disaster for us, and clearly we knew there was more performance in the car but we just weren't able to extract it. To come here to a track that I love; Shanghai, beautiful place, and the weather has been amazing and the car really came alive from lap one.

"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 we got a pole in a sprint.

"It's not the main race, we've still got work to do for tomorrow but it puts us in good stead for the race."

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Written by Anny Wooldridge