Oscar Piastri wins first pole of his career
Clear. Dry. Air +26C, highway +40...38C
The balance of power during the weekend with the Saturday sprint is usually clarified by the beginning of the main qualifying, for which this format is often criticized, but in China there was no such certainty.
Lewis Hamilton won the qualification for the sprint and the sprint, earning Ferrari its first victory in this format. Tire wear on the new asphalt of the Chinese highway played an important role, which many, including the McLaren cars, which worked best with rubber last week, could not cope with.
The teams complained that the situation was changing every session, and the settings that were working half an hour ago might suddenly turn out to be ineffective.
Pirelli brought an "average" three compositions – C2, C3 and C4 in the role of Hard, Medium and Soft. The teams hardly worked with Hard, they used only Medium in the sprint, and in the main qualification they went only to Soft.
In the first session, all the riders immediately went to the track. Duane spun around on the cold rubber, Leclair locked the front wheels in the hairpin –with no consequences. Norris' time was removed for violating the boundaries of the highway. In the first attempt, Verstappen showed the best time, completing a lap in 1:31.424.
The track was getting faster by the minute. In the second attempt, Lando Norris led the record with 1:30.983. Racing Bulls drivers Isaac Hajjar and Yuki Tsunoda were surprised, taking second and third places. Gasly, Berman, Duane, Bortoleto and Lawson have dropped out of the fight – Dr. Marco will be unhappy with Liam's next setback.
In the second session, Norris set a new benchmark – 1:30.787, and refused the second attempt, but no one managed to get closer to three tenths of it. Okon, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Stroll and Sainz did not qualify for the final.
In the final, Hajjar, Tsunoda and Elbon made their first attempt on rolled-up tires, while the others put on a fresh set. Piastri led the record with 1:30.703. Antonelli had a lap cancelled due to going off the track.
On the second attempt, Verstappen almost crashed into Hadjar at the end of the pit lane, who drove out in front of him - the mechanics from the "sister" team hoped that Isaac would not interfere with him, but Max had to brake sharply and turn right to avoid a collision.
Piastri drove even faster, now with a new Shanghai track record of 1:30.641. Russell split a pair of McLaren drivers, losing eight hundredths to the pole holder.
Oscar Piastri won qualifying in Shanghai, taking the first pole of his career. He will share the front row with George Russell, Norris and Verstappen will start from the second, and Hamilton will be ahead of Leclair in the third row at Ferrari.
The race promises to be interesting!
Qualification results
Pilot
Team
1st session
2nd session
3rd session
M
Time
Kr
M
Time
Kr
M
Time
Kr
1. O.Piastri
McLaren
8
1:31.591
8
3
1:31.200
6
1
1:30.641
6
2. D.Russell
Mercedes
4
1:31.295
9
6
1:31.307
6
2
1:30.723
7
3. L.Norris
McLaren
1
1:30.983
9
1
1:30.787
3
3
1:30.793
5
4. M.Verstappen
Red Bull
5
1:31.424
3
2
1:31.142
6
4
1:30.817
6
5. L.Hamilton
Ferrari
11
1:31.690
9
8
1:31.501
6
5
1:30.927
6
6. S.Leclair
Ferrari
7
1:31.579
9
7
1:31.450
6
6
1:31.021
6
7. A.Hajjar
Racing Bulls
2
1:31.162
8
4
1:31.253
6
7
1:31.079
6
8. K.Antonelli
Mercedes
10
1:31.676
9
9
1:31.590
7
8
1:31.103
6
9. Yu.Tsunoda
Racing Bulls
3
1:31.238
8
5
1:31.260
6
9
1:31.638
5
10. A.Elbon
Williams
6
1:31.503
8
10
1:31.595
6
10
1:31.706
6
11. E.Okon
Haas
13
1:31.876
9
11
1:31.625
6
12. N. Hulkenberg
Sauber
14
1:31.921
9
12
1:31.632
6
13. F. Alonso
Aston Martin
12
1:31.719
9
13
1:31.688
6
14. L. Stroll
Aston Martin
15
1:31.923
9
14
1:31.773
6
15. K.Sainz
Williams
9
1:31.628
9
15
1:31.840
6
16. P.Gasli
Alpine
16
1:31.992
9
17. O. Berman
Haas
17
1:32.018
8
18. D.Duane
Alpine
18
1:32.092
8
19. The city of Bortoleto
Sauber
19
1:32.141
9
20. L.Lawson
Red Bull
20
1:32.174
8
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