Lewis Hamilton shattered the Shanghai lap record to clinch an impressive pole position on Friday for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint, marking his second race weekend with Ferrari.
Hamilton, a six-time winner of the Chinese Grand Prix, completed the resurfaced 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit in a remarkable time of 1min 30.849sec.
His time easily surpassed the 1:32.238 record established in 2004 at the inaugural Chinese GP by fellow seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, also driving for Ferrari.
Reigning champion Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who triumphed in both the sprint and main races in China last year, secured the second-fastest time, just 0.018sec behind, while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took third.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth as Ferrari demonstrated significant progress from Melbourne, where Hamilton placed 10th and Leclerc eighth, marking the Scuderia’s poorest season opener since 2009.
A notable surprise was Lando Norris, who won in Melbourne and had set the fastest time in morning practice by nearly half a second ahead of Leclerc, Piastri, and Hamilton but ended up sixth after running wide and cancelling his final flying lap.
Mercedes driver George Russell was fifth, with his teammate Kimi Antonelli in seventh, just behind Norris. Completing the top ten were Yuki Tsunoda in an RB, Alex Albon in a Williams, and Lance Stroll in an Aston Martin.
All drivers were required to use medium-compound tyres in the first two sprint qualifying sessions, known as SQ1 and SQ2.
Red Bull rookie Liam Lawson had a tough start to his weekend, unable to progress past the first session after his lap time was invalidated for exceeding track limits, leaving him to start 20th and last.
Also eliminated in the first session were the Alpine duo of Jack Doohan and Pierre Gasly, Haas’s Esteban Ocon, and Nico Hulkenberg from Sauber.
In SQ2, Fernando Alonso finished 11th in the Aston Martin and did not make it into the top-10 shootout.
Others who did not advance were Oliver Bearman from Haas, Carlos Sainz in a Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto in a Sauber, and Isack Hadjar’s RB.
The 19-lap sprint race is scheduled for Saturday morning, followed by Grand Prix qualifying later in the day. Sunday will feature the Chinese Grand Prix, contested over 56 laps.
