F1 Chinese GP: Hamilton beats Verstappen by 0.018s for sprint pole

 Lewis Hamilton announced his arrival at Ferrari by taking pole position for the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix and is joined on the front row by old foe Max Verstappen.

McLaren had looked dominant until the third qualifying session, with Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris down in sixth after making errors on both of his attempts.

Hamilton had been hooked up for the whole day and, having taken six grand prix poles and six victories in Shanghai, he will once again start from P1 with a lap-record time of one minute 30.849 seconds.

The seven-time world champion struggled on his Ferrari debut in Australia but looked much more at home and will be hoping to convert pole to sprint victory on Saturday.

Verstappen, who finished second in Melbourne, starts on the front row following his own fine lap, while Charles Leclerc is fourth for Ferrari.

The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be disappointed to only be fifth and seventh, respectively, while Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.

It had appeared the McLarens were vying with one another to take pole but Piastri’s best effort was ultimately beaten by both Hamilton and Verstappen while two small mistakes cost Norris a shot at being further up the field.

The second Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso will start the sprint race 11th with Oliver Bearman impressing for Haas by taking 12th ahead of Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar.

While Norris ran wide on his first SQ1 run, Piastri took half a second out of the Ferraris who had been sitting at the top of the timesheets.

However, it was another tough session for the second Red Bull of Liam Lawson, who was plum last and over a second and a half off SQ1 pace-setter Hamilton having had a lap time deleted.

Both Alpines were also eliminated in SQ1, Jack Doohan beating Pierre Gasly for 16th, while Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg were slower than their respective rookie team-mates down in 18th and 19th.

F1 Chinese GP – Sprint qualifying results

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Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	Tyres	km/h
1	L. HamiltonFerrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	1’30.849		216.002
2	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.018 1’30.867		215.959
3	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.080 1’30.929		215.812
4	C. LeclercFerrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.208 1’31.057		215.508
5	G. RussellMercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.320 1’31.169		215.244
6	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.544 1’31.393		214.716
7	A. AntonelliMercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.889 1’31.738		213.909
8	Y. TsunodaRacing Bulls	22		RB	Honda	+0.924 1’31.773		213.827
9	A. AlbonWilliams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+1.003 1’31.852		213.643
10	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.133 1’31.982		213.341
11	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+0.966 1’31.815		213.729
12	O. BearmanHaas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	+1.129 1’31.978		213.351
13	C. SainzWilliams	55		Williams	Mercedes	+1.476 1’32.325		212.549
14	G. BortoletoSauber	5		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.715 1’32.564		212.000
15	I. HadjarRacing Bulls	6		RB	Honda
16	J. DoohanAlpine	7		Alpine	Renault	+1.726 1’32.575		211.975
17	P. GaslyAlpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+1.791 1’32.640		211.826
18	E. OconHaas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	+1.802 1’32.651		211.801
19	N. HulkenbergSauber	27		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.826 1’32.675		211.746
20	L. LawsonRed Bull Racing	30		Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.880 1’32.729		211.623
View full results