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Hamilton wins sprint pole at Formula 1 Chinese GP
Reuters • March 21st, 2025 10:47 pm
Lewis Hamilton en route to securing pole position for the sprint race at the Chinese GP | Photo: AP
Lewis Hamilton astonished the crowd and himself by securing his maiden Sprint pole position for Ferrari in the final moments of qualifying at the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Hamilton arrived in Shanghai after his disappointing season-opening race last weekend in Australia, where he finished 10th in his first race for Ferrari.
He only managed fourth fastest in Friday's opening practice in Shanghai for a modest improvement on that.
But Hamilton topped the first section of sprint qualifying for the season, before the dominant McLaren of Lando Norris took over in SQ2.
An aborted lap from the McLaren driver, following a mistake on his final lap, handed Hamilton his chance – and the seven-time world champion took it in stunning style with less than a minute remaining.
Hamilton's time was just 18 one-thousandths of a second ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, with Norris's Australian teammate Oscar Piastri third. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth, with Mercedes' George Russell closing out the top five.
Fresh from his Melbourne triumph, Lando Norris set Friday's best practice time for the Chinese GP | Photo: James Ross/AAP
"I didn't expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud," Hamilton said.
"I think obviously the last race was a disaster. Clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car but we just weren't able to extract it.
"So to come here to a track that I love — and the car really came alive. The team did a fantastic job to get the car ready and yeah, I'm a bit in shock."
The 40-year-old Hamilton's move from Mercedes to Ferrari dominated F1 headlines ahead of the 2025 season.
Earlier, McLaren's Lando Norris topped the time sheet in Friday's only practice for Sunday's race, with Alpine's Australian rookie Jack Doohan bringing the session to a halt for several minutes after losing power midway through a lap.
Norris lapped the Shanghai International Circuit in one minute, 31.504 seconds on soft tyres, 0.454 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with several drivers complaining of graining on their front tyres as they made their way around the track's long and sweeping corners.
Piastri was third fastest in his McLaren, just over six tenths of a second slower than his teammate, but running wide on his fastest lap and looking ominous ahead of qualifying later in the day for Saturday's Sprint Race.
Seven-time world champion and six-time Chinese Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in his Ferrari, ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, who had been quickest for much of the session but did not join the top four in changing to the soft compound tyre after Doohan's stoppage brought a red flag.
Australia's Oscar Piastri set the third-fastest time of the session in his McLaren | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg ended the practice one position up on his unexpected points-scoring seventh-placed finish in Melbourne last week, just over a second off the pace but continuing a strong run of form for the mid-field team.
Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli complained of blistering on his front left tyre and was only able to manage ninth position, just under half a second behind his teammate, Russell.
The Shanghai circuit has been resurfaced ahead of Sunday's race, but its long and sweeping first, 12th and 13th corners typically challenge tyres regardless, with the rubber compounds dragged across the asphalt as the drivers turn in.
Doohan stopped the session with just less than 13 minutes left after complaining of a loss of power around turn nine and parking his car on the grass between turns 10 and 11, bringing out a red flag.
The session got back under way with seven minutes remaining, and most drivers elected to switch to soft tyres to test their one-lap pace.
