Max Verstappen dominated Qualifying to claim pole position for the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
Verstappen dominated all three segments of Qualifying to claim his first pole position in China and Red Bull’s 100th Grand Prix pole position within F1, as his teammate – Sergio Perez locked out the front row ahead of Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz could only manage sixth and seventh ahead of George Russell, Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton meanwhile was a shock Q1 elimination after the seven-time champion only managed to qualify 18th, following a mistake on his final flying lap.
Q1
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was amongst the first drivers to hit the track and set a benchmark 1m 36.975 which was quickly bettered by various drivers, as McLaren’s Piastri found himself quickest after the opening laps with 1m 35.014 with the majority having used soft tyres.
Gasly, Sainz- having done his first lap on the medium tyre unlike everyone else, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda found themselves in the elimination zone alongside Perez – who hadn’t set a lap time after he was impeded by Williams’ Alex Albon at Turn 1 on his first flier.
Track evolution soon proved crucial in the closing minutes as Sainz then Norris went quickest into the 1m 34 second window.
As the checkered flag fell, Logan Sargeant qualified last after he spun on his final flier and will be joined on the back row by Yuki Tsunoda.
Hamilton meanwhile became a shock Q1 casualty in 18th position after a lock-up at Turn 14 and will line up behind Guanyu Zhou and Kevin Magnussen, who qualified 16th and 17th respectively, although Zhou missed out on Q2 to Perez by just 0.048 seconds.
Up front, Verstappen topped Q1 with 1m 34.742 and just 0.055s ahead of Leclerc – who had flirted with elimination during the segment like Sainz and Norris amongst various drivers.
Q2
Following a two minute lull at the start of the second segment, Hulkenberg led a queue of cars out onto the track and proceeded to set a benchmark time of 1m 34.979 which was beaten by faster drivers, as Verstappen went top with 1m 33.946 in the eighth minute.
Sainz however caused a red flag in the ninth minute with six minutes and 44 seconds left on the clock, after he spun out of the final corner onto the gravel which caused him to slide back across the track into the barriers.
The Spaniard however was able to return to the pits under his own power minus his front wing, and the session resumed 11 minutes later, with Albon, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz and Russell sat in the elimination zone.
Russell and Verstappen were the only drivers to venture out shortly after the restart, with Russell benefitting from the clean air as he posted 1m 34.609 to go third and drop Daniel Ricciardo into the bottom five.
Verstappen meanwhile furthered lowered the benchmark time to 1m 33.794 as he geared up for Q3.
At the checkered flag, Sainz recovered from his mid-session spin to finish third-fastest whilst Gasly qualified slowest in 15th position, behind Albon and Ocon in 14th and 13th positions respectively.
Ricciardo qualified 12th as he extended his streak of missing out on Q3 to eight races, whilst Stroll was eliminated in 11th as Bottas achieved Kick-Sauber’s first Q3 appearance of the season in Grand Prix Qualifying.
Q3
Hulkenberg was first out on track at the start of Q3 and set a benchmark 1m 35.400 but his provisional pole time was swiftly usurped, as Verstappen posted 1m 33.977 to take provisional pole ahead of Alonso by 0.394s.
Perez found himself third after the opening Q3 runs ahead of Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Leclerc, Hulkenberg and Russell, whilst Bottas sat out the opening part of the segment.
Verstappen eventually claimed pole with 1m 33.660 to become the first driver this century to take pole in the opening five Grands Prix of a new season, with Perez joining him on the front row ahead of Alonso, Norris, Piastri, Leclerc and Sainz.
Russell improved to eighth on his final lap ahead of Hulkenberg and Bottas who rounded out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 33.660 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.322 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.488 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.505 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.613 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.629 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.637 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.773 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.944 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick Sauber | + 1.005 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1m 34.838 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 0.096 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.385 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.403 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.625 |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Kick Sauber | 1m 35.505 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.011 |
| 18 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.068 |
| 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.241 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.853 |
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