Hamilton Claims Pole for 2025 Chinese GP Sprint

Lewis Hamilton claimed his first pole position in Ferrari colours in a thrilling 2025 Chinese Sprint Qualifying. 

Hamilton proved competitive across Practice and much of Sprint Qualifying until he hooked it up on his final lap to snatch pole position, and will be joined on the front row by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who rebounded from a tough practice session.

McLaren initially looked favourites for pole after they dominated much of the Sprint Qualifying until mistakes on their final laps left Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris third and sixth on the grid.

 

Practice

Haas’ Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon were first on track with the former setting 1m 40.349 as the initial benchmark time as everyone ran the medium tyre, but Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda lowered the benchmark to 1m 36.582 seconds later.

Mercedes’ George Russell soon set the pace with 1m 35.184 which was just 0.010 seconds faster than McLaren’s Piastri, before Piastri’s teammate – Norris displaced the pair with 1m 33.382, but Piastri soon went 0.066s quicker.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton soon afterwards went quickest with 1m 33.224 in the 14th minute but Russell found 0.207s just moments later, before Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari top with 1m 32.877 four minutes later.

Russell however responded with 1m 32.377 to top the medium-tyre runs from Leclerc and Piastri as the red flags came out in the 48th minute, as Jack Doohan lost power in his Alpine and stopped on track.

The session resumed with seven minutes left as everyone switched to the soft tyre qualifying simulation runs in a frantic finish, as Leclerc snatched the fastest lap with 1m 32.103 ahead of Norris by 0.058s with Hamilton a further 0.034s behind in third.

Russell failed to improve on his medium time but managed a respectable fourth on the timesheet ahead of Piastri once the first soft-tyre laps were posted.

Some drivers though found time at the checkered flag as Norris clinched the fastest lap with 1m 31.504 to displace Leclerc, whilst Piastri climbed to third ahead of Hamilton and Russell.

Verstappen only managed the 16th fastest lap time after he aborted his soft-tyre run due to a lack of improvement in time.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1m 31.504
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.454
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.649
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.691
5	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.873
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	+ 1.003
7	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 1.183
8	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 1.262
9	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 1.370
10	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	+ 1.430
11	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 1..463
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.480
13	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 1.552
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.619
15	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 1.641
16	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 1.780
17	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+ 1.881
18	Liam Lawson	Red Bull	+ 2.127
19	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	+ 2.318
20	Jack Doohan	Alpine	+ 2.419

 

Sprint Qualifying

SQ1

Antonelli was first out on track as everyone ran the required new medium tyres but he opted for two warm-up laps whilst Bortoleto set 1m 33.693 as the initial benchmark, which was beaten by 1.970s once all drivers set a lap time as Piastri went fastest with 1m 31.723 from Alonso and Hamilton.

The bottom five meanwhile compromised of; Tsunoda, Sainz, Bearman, Bortoleto and Ocon heading into the final two minutes.

As the checkered flag fell, Ocon was the only member of that five who suffered elimination as he qualified 18th ahead of Hulkenberg and Lawson, of which the latter qualified last in another tricky Qualifying after he exited in Q1 in Australia.

Doohan outqualified Gasly as the Alpine pair finished 16th and 17th respectively.

Up front, Hamilton finished quickest with 1m 31.212 ahead of Norris by 0.194s after everyone except Piastri ventured out for a second run.

 

SQ2

Antonelli again was first out on track ahead of Russell as both Mercedes once more opted for two warm-up laps, whilst Verstappen set a benchmark time of 1m 31.521 in the fourth minute.

Norris set the pace with 1m 31.174 less than a minute later which proved quickest overall in the segment, whilst Piastri slotted into second as only eight drivers opted to do an early SQ2 run.

Norris, Piastri and Verstappen were the only early runners not to venture back out for a final run which saw Antonelli and Russell avoid elimination at the death in fifth and second respectively, having slipped into the elimination zone at the checkered flag.

The Mercedes pair ultimately escaped at the expense of Alonso and Bearman who qualified 11th and 12th respectively, ahead of Sainz and Bortoleto who will line up 13th and 14th ahead of Hadjar who aborted his final lap due to an error in the opening corners.

 

SQ3

Piastri and Norris were first to venture out on the soft tyres as SQ3 got underway and it was Piastri who set the benchmark time of 1m 30.929, as Norris fell 0.464s short and the McLaren pair were split by Russell in second.

As the checkered flag approached, Hamilton snatched pole position for the sprint with 1m 30.849 to set a new lap record in Shanghai, whilst Verstappen slotted into second, ahead of Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Antonelli, Tsunoda, Albon and Stroll.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1m 30.849
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.018
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.080
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.208
5	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.320
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.544
7	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.889
8	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	+ 0.924
9	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 1.003
10	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1.133
11	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1m 31.815
12	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 0.163
13	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 0.510
14	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	+ 0.749
15	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	No Time
16	Jack Doohan	Alpine	1m 32.575
17	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 0.065
18	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 0.076
19	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	+ 0.100
20	Liam Lawson	Red Bull	+ 0.154