McLaren were the clear favorites for sprint pole in China, only for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari to snatch the honor in a strong recovery after Australia.

Does that mean it’s time to hedge your bets on a dominant Ferrari season on 2025? According to team boss Fred Vasseur, that might be a little premature.

Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari warning after Lewis Hamilton sprint pole

Lewis Hamilton, polesitter. It’s been a while since we’ve heard those words, but the new Ferrari driver has impressed by wrangling his SF-25 to the front of the field ahead of the first sprint qualifying session of the year.

Is that enough to claim Ferrari has what it takes to usurp McLaren? Despite what the scoring charts say, it may be a little too early to make that call.

After all, Hamilton’s pole position was scored by the narrowest of margins, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen taking second place by just 0.018 seconds.

The highest-ranking McLaren is that of Oscar Piastri, starting from third place beside Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc. And championship hopeful Lando Norris made an error in his final flying lap, which means he’s starting from sixth.

It certainly looks promising for Ferrari, especially after Leclerc and Hamilton qualified seventh and eighth, respectively, in Australia. But it’s not the full story.

More analysis from the Chinese Grand Prix:

👉 Lewis Hamilton and McLaren data reveals true China SQ story

👉 Winners and losers from the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix Sprint qualifying

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after sprint qualifying, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was happy to admit that his team certainly looked stronger in China than Australia — but that it’s still too soon to make any bold predictions.

“It’s better than last week but it’s still a bit difficult to read and understand one session to the other,” the Frenchman said.

“Sometimes McLaren has a huge gap, sometimes it’s quite small. We [still] have a lot of work to do.”

And McLaren weren’t the only threat. Though Red Bull Racing has lost a bit of its ever-dominant edge, reigning champion Max Verstappen is still able to perform at an exceptionally high standard.

All that being said, Vasseur was willing to acknowledge that “if you compare with last week when we struggled a lot in qualifying and the race, for sure it’s much better.

“It’s positive energy for Lewis and the team. This is good but I’ll always see the negative side!”

He further praised Hamilton for his “consistency” in leading the field in both SQ1 and SQ3, which is certainly a “positive.”

The real test will come throughout the remainder of the weekend. Vasseur noted that “you can score a lot of points this weekend in the sprint,” but that will require a strong start from Hamilton paired with consistent race pace in the SF-25.

Further, the sprint is only one small part of a weekend that also consists of a full qualifying session and a Grand Prix. The sprint pole will likely be a great motivator, but the real test will come when considering Ferrari’s performance throughout the entire Chinese Grand Prix.

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