Lewis Hamilton admitted feeling “gobsmacked” at taking his first P1 grid slot for Ferrari, earning pole for the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton pipped Max Verstappen to pole for the 19-lap Sprint at the Shanghai International Circuit, with both McLaren drivers set to line up P3 and P6 respectively having set the pace throughout the day.

Lewis Hamilton ‘a bit taken aback’ after earning first Ferrari P1 slot

Hamilton was running close to the front-running pace of McLaren through SQ1 and SQ2, but Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris appeared to hold an advantage over the rest of the field on medium tyres.

Doing just one run on soft tyres in SQ3, Hamilton set an outright lap record around Shanghai to take pole position for the Sprint, which prompted a surprised response over team radio from the seven-time World Champion.

Speaking after climbing out of his car, Hamilton explained his shock at being ahead of the McLaren duo, off the back of a “difficult start” to the season in Australia.

“I’m just a bit gobsmacked,” Hamilton said after the session.

“I would say I’m a bit taken aback by it. I didn’t know when we would get to this position, and after last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week and [I] came here with just aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and really get the car into a great place.

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“And I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car, and just, I can’t believe that we’re at the front end, ahead of McLaren, which has been so fast throughout winter testing, and obviously in the last race and then even today.

“I’m really grateful just to be up there fighting with these great drivers and to see it be so close to all these other teams.”

When asked where he managed to find time around the circuit on his pole lap relative to McLaren and his other rivals, he replied: “I have no idea. I have to go back and have a look, but my first sector was really, really strong.

“I think that’s where I made most of my improvement on that lap, but just little increments through the whole place.

“I think there’s still time to find for sure, which I’ll try and make sure that I apply to the next qualifying session we go out in.

“But it’s just amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car. It’s pretty incredible.”

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