Mercedes’ George Russell dominated Sprint Qualifying to claim pole for the 2026 Chinese Sprint.
Russell topped Practice and proceeded to dominate Sprint Qualifying to head his teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli in an one-two finish, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton third and fourth in a strong showing from the leading British drivers.
Practice
Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman were first on track and Ocon set an unrepresentative initial benchmark time of 1m 57.465, which was quickly usurped as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly as the Frenchman immediately laid 1m 37.754 as the benchmark on medium tyres.
Gasly’s teammate, Franco Colapinto meanwhile suffered a high-speed slide through Turns 8 and 9, whilst Hamilton locked up at Turn 6 and went spinning into the run-off area.
Up front, Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli set 1m 35.094, which was beaten by his teammate – Russell in the ninth minute with 1m 35.065.
The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) however were deployed twice in the space of a few minutes, first to remove debris in the tenth minute then remove Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls at Turn 14 in the 15th minute.
Russell however managed to post 1m 34.169 on medium tyres in between the two VSC periods to set a benchmark, which saw him head Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and his own teammate, Antonelli, at the halfway mark with the trio split by 0.625 seconds.
Hamilton however went early onto the soft tyre and elevated himself up to second and 0.208s behind his ex Mercedes teammate, as the seven-time champion plus Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were the first runners to put on the soft tyres.
Mercedes eventually put the soft tyres on with just over ten minutes left and Russell lowered the benchmark to 1m 32.807 and Antonelli fell 0.156s shy, only for Russell to lower the fastest lap to 1m 32.741 on his second flier to top the session.
The top 17 drivers plus Valtteri Bottas set their fastest laps on the soft tyre, whilst Alonso and Stroll switched to the medium tyre for their fastest laps which was the same tyre compound that Lindblad and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez used for their quickest lap times.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 32.741 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.120 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.555 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | Ferrari | + 0.731 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | McLaren | + 0.858 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 1.388 |
| 7 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.685 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 1.800 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.898 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.935 |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 2.032 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 2.087 |
| 13 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 2.115 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 2.136 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.206 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.739 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.938 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 3.115 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.316 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 4.483 |
| 21 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 5.155 |
| 22 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 6.459 |
Sprint Qualifying
SQ1
Cadillac’s Perez was ruled out of the session with a fuel system issue but his teammate, Bottas was first on track although he aborted his first flying lap.
Hadjar consequently set 1m 34.447 as the initial benchmark but his lap time was soon usurped as Hamilton posted 1m 33.730 to set the pace, although it was Russell who set the pace on 1m 33.030 once everyone except Perez set a lap time.
Albon, Colapinto, Stroll, Alonso and Bottas meanwhile found themselves facing elimination alongside the absent Perez.
As the checkered flag fell, Colapinto survived at the expense of Sainz who headed Albon in a double SQ1 elimination for Williams, albeit ahead of Aston Martin’s Alonso and Stroll who will line up 19th and 20th on the grid.
Cadillac will start their first F1 sprint from the back row with Bottas lining up 21st ahead of Perez who will bring up the rear of the field.
SQ2
Norris was first out of the pits ahead of Piastri but opted for two-laps of preparation, whilst Hulkenberg proceeded to set 1m 48.241. as the initial benchmark time.
Verstappen meanwhile set a more representative benchmark of 1m 33.564 ahead of Gasly by 0.007s, whilst Hadjar was a further 0.049s behind his teammate.
Once everyone set their fastest lap times, Russell headed the order on 1m 32.241 ahead of Antonelli by 0.329s, although the Italian was placed under investigation for impeding Norris at Turn 1.
Ocon, Bortoleto, Lawson, Bearman, Lindblad and Colapinto meanwhile found themselves at risk of elimination with four minutes left on the clock.
Once the checkered flag fell, Bearman managed to escape elimination at the expense of Hulkenberg who qualified 11th ahead of Bearman’s teammate, Ocon, whilst Lawson moved ahead of Bortoleto to qualify 13th, whilst Lindblad and Colapinto will line up in 15th and 16th respectively on the grid.
SQ3
Unlike SQ1 and SQ2 segments, the top ten drivers switched to the soft tyre for the final segment of the session with Antonelli first out on track, which saw him set 1m 31.880 as the initial benchmark time.
Russell however found 0.360s on his teammate to post 1m 31.520 to go onto provisional sprint pole from the Italian, with Hamilton and Leclerc sat third and fourth from Verstappen who was 1,734s off the pace in fifth, as only five drivers opted to do an early SQ3 run.
Russell eventually clung onto his first sprint pole in F1 as Antonelli fell 0.289s shy in second, ahead of; Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Leclerc, Gasly, Verstappen, Bearman and Hadjar.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 31.520 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.289 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.621 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.641 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.704 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 1.008 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.368 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 1.734 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.889 |
| 10 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 2.203 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 1m 33.635 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.004s |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.079 |
| 14 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 0.139 |
| 15 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.413 |
| 16 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 0.692 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1m 34.761 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.544 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.820 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.390 |
| 21 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.617 |
| DNQ | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | No Time |
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