Hamilton “in shock” as he gets first Ferrari sprint pole

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is “a bit in shock” after taking his first sprint pole of his nascent Ferrari era.

Hamilton came to Shanghai after a difficult weekend for both himself and Ferrari in Australia, only managing 10th in Melbourne through a lack of pace and poor strategy.

But the 40-year-old rebounded strongly in China by taking pole for Saturday’s first sprint race of the season in a new Shanghai track record, fending off reigning world champion Max Verstappen by 0.018s, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also within a tenth.

“I didn’t expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud,” Hamilton said. “Obviously, the last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car, but we just weren’t able to extract it. Coming here, 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 actually got a pole in the sprint. It’s not the main race, so we’ve got work to do for tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the race. It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car. It’s pretty incredible.”

Hamilton explained he is still racing into the unknown for Saturday morning’s sprint as he hasn’t done a proper race run on dry conditions yet in the SF-25.

“I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain,” he said. “Obviously, we did the race last weekend in the wet, but tomorrow will be kind of my first real race run, and Sunday will be my first proper race run in the dry with this car.

“So, I’ll be learning. I’m hoping that we can hold on to it. But I think the McLarens are very, very, very fast, as is Max, but we’re in a good position.”