Formula 1: Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race and Qualifying Recap

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Oscar Piastri takes his first pole position in Formula One at the Chinese Grand Prix, with George Russell in P2 and Lando Norris in P3.

Isack Hadjar has his highest qualifying, starting at the Chinese Grand Prix in seventh place, and Max Verstappen in fourth place.

Less than half a second covered the top eight in qualifying with five different teams, with really fine margins over a single lap on the current grid.

Lewis Hamilton won his first Sprint race with Ferrari in a race that was filled with tyre graining after Norris lost position and finished eight after losing positions at the start after going wide. Oscar Piastri came second after a late overtake on Max Verstappen, who finished third.

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Sprint Race

Lewis Hamilton started from pole position in the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint race and quickly built a commanding lead, which he maintained throughout the 19-lap event, despite experiencing some graining on his tires.

Four-time World Champion Max Verstappen held second place for most of the Sprint race, but lost the position to Oscar Piastri, who overtook him in the final laps.

Yuki Tsunoda delivered an impressive performance, finishing sixth for Racing Bulls. He was followed closely by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, who added to his points from Melbourne by finishing seventh. Lando Norris managed to secure eighth place after initially losing positions due to a wide moment early in the race, before reclaiming it in the closing stages.

Nico Hulkenberg started the Sprint race from the pit lane after modifications were made to his car under Parc Ferme conditions. All drivers used medium compound tires for the race, with most opting for previously used tires.

In a dramatic conclusion to the race, Gabriel Bortoleto and Jack Doohan collided on the final lap.​

Lewis Hamilton, who started on pole position and won the sprint race earlier today, his first for Ferrari: "Real, real special weekend so far. Shanghai has always been really good to me since my first race here in 2007. It is one the best new tracks they have built over the last couple of decades.

"It’s a much different view starting from pole, it is quite some time since I had that view. I got in the car early because I wanted to enjoy it.

"[It was a Challenging race, the tyre degradation was pretty huge. The last five laps I was in a pretty comfortable position, hard to put into words what it feels like, it is the sprint race not the main one but it is a good stepping stone.

​"The car was feeling really good today and it’s a good platform. I don’t think Lando [Norris] got this lap yesterday and it will be difficult but we will give it our best shot."

Top Eight Finishers
1) Lewis Hamilton
2) Oscar Piastri                   +6.889
3) Max Verstappen              +9.804
4) George Russell               +11.592
5) Charles Leclerc               +12.190
6) Yuki Tsunoda                   +22.288
7) Kimi Antonelli                   +23.038
8) Lando Norris                    +23.471

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Qualifying

Q1

Out In Q1
16) Pierre Gasly
17) Oliver Bearman
18) Jack Doohan
19) Gabriel Bortoleto
20) Liam Lawson

At least 15 drivers were waiting at the lights at the end of the pit lane to start qualifying, with some waiting up to four minutes, allowing their tyres to cool down, with most on used soft tyres.

Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell were the last cars out on the track in the first part of the session.

Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri battle it out for the top spot, while Norris and Doohan get their first qualifying lap time deleted for track limits.

Charles Leclerc and Norris struggled through Q1, hitting curbs and losing time throughout the laps.

Lawson was noted for failing to slow under yellow flags after Doohan spun in the middle sector, but it was deemed no further investigation.

With three minutes to go, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz, Lawson, and Doohan were in the bottom five, with Charles Leclerc under pressure in 13th. All drivers head onto the track on new soft tyres, except Verstappen and Tsunoda, potentially giving them the upper hand later in the session.

​Bearman was investigated after qualifying for potentially impeding Stroll in Q1.

Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman, Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson were all out in Q1, with Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top three on the timesheets for the session.

Formula 1

Q2

Out In Q2
11) Esteban Ocon
12) Nico Hulkenberg
13) Fernando Alonso
14) Lance Stroll
15) Carlos Sainz

Drivers waited just a short time before heading out onto the track, with everyone lining up at the pit exit. Mercedes, Sainz, Ocon, Hadjar, and Stroll were among the first to head out on track.

​Russell was at the top of the timesheet with ten minutes to go but was knocked off the top spot by both McLarens. Stroll, Ocon, Hadjar, Alonso and Sainz were in the bottom five.

All the drivers returned to the garage five minutes to go and five minutes to go after the first qualifying runnings, with Norris at the top with a 1m 30.787s.

Piastri, Verstappen, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton and Leclerc headed back onto the track early with four minutes to go.

​Piastri ran used soft tyres while the rest of the field was out on the new soft tyre compound, with only 12 sets of tyres available for the weekend.

Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz were all knocked out in Q2, with Norris topping the session's timesheet.

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Q3

Starting Top 10
1) Oscar Piastri         1m 30.641
2) George Russell       +0.082
3) Lando Norris           +0.152
4) Max Verstappen      +0.176
5) Lewis Hamilton       +0.286
6) Charles Leclerc       +0.380
7) Isack Hadjar            +0.438
8) Kimi Antonelli          +0.462
9) Yuki Tsunoda          +0.997
10) Alex Albon             +1.065

In Q3, the cars lined up at the end of the pit lane to start their Q3 sessions, with McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Verstappen had two new sets of soft compound tyres, with Albon having no new sets of soft tyres for the session.

The wind picked up and changed its angle in Q3, with all drivers out on track.

Verstappen was first to go on a flying lap, with a 1m 30.925s taking provisional pole, but is knocked off by Piastri by two-tenths. After the first fast runs of the session, Piastri led over Norris by 0.090, followed by Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Hadjar, Tsunoda, Albon and Antonelli.

Antonelli had a trip into the gravel and had his lap time deleted, with no time set and five minutes to go.

Hadjar and Verstappen had a near miss in the pit lane after Hadjar was released into the path of Verstappen, which was investigated after the session.

​Verstappen was the first to set his final flying lap in the session but could only manage P3. Norris aborts his final lap, heading into the pits.

Oscar Piastri takes pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix, with George Russell in P2, Lando Norris in P3 and Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Isack Hadjar, Kimi Antonelli, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon rounding out the top ten.

​​McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who takes his first pole position in Formula 1: "I’m glad it looked like that [being hooked up] because it didn’t feel like that. In Q3 I just found a lot of pace, in Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling but the car just came alive in Q3 and I came alive.

“I’m happy with what I did in the end, the laps were still a bit scruffy but I’m just pumped to be on pole.”

On the track: "It’s a lot of fun, with the new surface it’s extremely grippy which for us is the best feeling in the world. The only thing that comes with that is if you lose grip it bites and you’ve probably seen a lot of snaps and a lot of moments this weekend; with the surface we’ve got it’s pretty tricky.

“When you hook it up, it feels pretty mega, so I will take the fastest lap of Shanghai.”

On the race on Sunday and clean air: “That’s hopefully going to be a help, I’ve got to make sure I keep that clean air but I was pretty happy after the sprint. We did the most that we could have and I was pretty happy. I would have been happier with one spot higher but how the race turned out I couldn’t have asked for much more.

​“I feel like we learnt a lot this morning and looking forward to trying to put that in to use tomorrow.”

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Written By Anny Wooldridge