Lando Norris claimed pole position for the 2024 Chinese Sprint in Shanghai, China.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll topped practice but come Sprint Qualifying, McLaren’s Norris survived incoming rainfall and a trackside fire to claim pole position for the Sprint.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso qualified second and third respectively in a thrilling finish to Sprint Qualifying, ahead of reigning champion – Max Verstappen.
Now, here is a roundup of Practice and Sprint Qualifying in Shanghai.
Practice
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was first out on track on soft tyres and set a benchmark 1m 41. 123 but was quickly usurped by several drivers, as Verstappen went quickest with 1m 39.487 which he soon lowered to 1m 39.110 then 1m 38.498.
Red flags however were out in the 15th minute after a verge of gras at Turn 7 suddenly caught ablaze but marshals soon extinguished the flames before it could develop into a serious incident, with the session resuming five minutes later.
Some drivers focused on setup and race simulations upon the restart but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz set the pace on soft tyre runs, as the Monegasque posted 1m 38.130 in the 28th minute to sit top at the halfway mark.
Leclerc further lowered his benchmark in the 35th minute by 0.040 seconds but once everyone else switched to a soft-tyre run at the end, Stroll unexpectedly topped the timesheet with 1m 36.302 ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Norris, George Russell, Hamilton and Alonso set their best lap times on hard tyre in 16-19th positions, although Norris aborted his final flier which could of put him in the top three.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1m 36.302 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.327 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.358 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.388 |
| 5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.799 |
| 6 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.816 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.911 |
| 8 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.927 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 0.936 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick | + 1.228 |
| 11 | Guanyu Zhou | Kick | + 1.324 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 1.704 |
| 13 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.788 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 1.982 |
| 15 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.984 |
| 16 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 2.328 |
| 17 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 2.504 |
| 18 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 2.537 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 2.634 |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.974 |
Sprint Qualifying
SQ1
With medium tyres only permitted in the first two segments, Albon was first out on track and set the benchmark time of 1m 38.043, only to be usurped by several drivers as Perez topped the segment with 1m 36.110.
Albon, Russell, Ocon, Sargeant and Tsunoda meanwhile found themselves in the bottom five once everyone completed their first laps.
As the checkered flag fell, only Russell survived at the expense of Gasly who qualified 16th alongside his Alpine teammate – Ocon, with Albon, Tsunoda and Sargeant filling the last three spots on the grid.
Another fire however broke out but this time at at Turn 5 in the closing seconds which caused a brief delay to the start of the second segment.
SQ2
Norris and Piastri led a flurry of cars straight out onto the circuit amidst worsening threat of rain incoming from the south-west of Shanghai, with Norris setting benchmark 1m 36.047 but was displaced by Piastri then Leclerc until Verstappen went quickest with 1m 35.606.
Russell, Magnussen, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo and Stroll found themselves in the bottom five after everyone set their first lap times, but the rain swiftly swept in to prevent any chance of late improvements.
SQ3
Although soft tyres were planned for this final segment, the track was declared wet and Leclerc spun off on his outlap into the barriers, but he managed to keep the power unit running and avoid much impact as he slowly re-joined the track.
Piastri was the first driver to set a benchmark time of 2m 02.598 which was beaten by Perez as the Mexican posted 2m 00.455 to go top from Bottas, whilst various lap times were deleted due to track limits having been exceeded.
As the checkered flag fell, Norris snatched pole position for the Sprint but initially had his pole lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, with the McLaren driver joined by fellow Brit – Hamilton on the front row ahead of Alonso, Verstappen, Sainz and Perez.
Leclerc headed row four ahead of Piastri whilst Kick Sauber’s Bottas and Zhou shared the fifth row.
The Sprint Race will take place at 11am local time (4am UK Time) on Saturday 20 April.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 57.940 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.261 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.975 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 2.088 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 2.274 |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 2.435 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 2.626 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 3.050 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber | + 3.104 |
| 10 | Guanyu Zhou | Kick Sauber | + 5.597 |
| 11 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 37.345 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.128 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.133 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 0.208 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.332 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1m 37.632 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.088 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.180 |
| 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.260 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.291 |
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