Chinese GP: Lewis Hamilton takes shock first Sprint Qualifying pole for Ferrari with Lando Norris only sixth

Lewis Hamilton claimed a stunning pole for Saturday’s Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix in just his second race weekend with Ferrari.

Bouncing back in sensational style from a difficult debut with the team in Melbourne last weekend, when he finished 10th, Hamilton was in the mix at the front throughout Sprint Qualifying at a venue where he has won the grand prix a record six times.

McLaren were still favourites to head the grid, but Hamilton had other ideas as – not only did the seven-time champion outperform new team-mate Charles Leclerc for the first time – he had more pace than all his main rivals too to claim a first pole position in motorsport’s iconic red at just the second attempt.

It is the 40-year-old Hamilton’s first pole position in either of F1’s qualifying formats since July 2023.

McLaren could only finish third with Oscar Piastri and sixth, after a last-lap mistake, with early title leader Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen will share the Sprint front row with old rival Hamilton after another strong showing in his Red Bull, with Leclerc fourth after lapping 0.2s slower than the quicker Ferrari.

When relayed the news by race engineer Riccardo Adami that he had qualified on pole, a clearly-surprised Hamilton replied: “Really? Hahaha! Mega job. Woo!”

He then added after getting out of the car: “I didn’t expect that result but so, so happy and so proud.

“Clearly the last race was a disaster for us but we knew there was more pace in the car.

“I’m a bit shocked. I can’t believe we got a pole in the Sprint!”

But while Verstappen was second, Liam Lawson’s troubled start to life at Red Bull’s senior team got worse as he lapped slowest of all in SQ1.

The New Zealander was just above the cut line ahead of the final runs but a costly mistake at Turn Nine saw him drift wide and condemn him to a back-of-the-grid start for the Sprint.

George Russell was fifth in the lead Mercedes and will share the third row with Norris for Saturday morning’s 3am Sprint start.

Kimi Antonelli took seventh in the second Silver Arrow in a much-improved single-lap result compared to his Melbourne debut, where he dropped out in Q1 before staging a fine recovery drive to finish fourth in the race. However, the 18-year-old did trail Russell by half a second in SQ3.

Three months after being overlooked for the Red Bull seat that went to Lawson, Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda qualified in the top 10 again in eighth. Alex Albon was ninth for Williams with Lance Stroll narrowly outpacing Fernando Alonso to put one Aston Martin in SQ3 in 10th.

British rookie Oliver Bearman impressed to qualify 12th after a disappointing Melbourne, six places ahead of experienced Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon.

‘A bit gobsmacked’ – reaction to Hamilton’s first Ferrari pole

Lewis Hamilton: “I’m just a bit gobsmacked, taken back by it. I didn’t know when we would get to this position.

“After last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week. We came here with aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place.

“I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car. I can’t believe we are at the front, ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, Australia and even today.”

Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle: “You could see straight away in the first four turns, Hamilton had it on point. The car was really stable and he was hustling the throttle and he got the tyres, pressures and temperatures absolutely in the window, so did Max.”

Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok: “What a story! Lewis Hamilton is on pole! We didn’t get a fairytale moment in Melbourne but we only had to wait six days.

“It’s justified his move in some ways. He’s re-energised, re-invigorated, re-motivated but most importantly he’s delivered on the timesheets.”

Lift-off for Lewis! How Hamilton hit back to upstage rivals

Shanghai is hosting the first of six Sprint events in the 2025 season, weekends which see an additional qualifying session and short-form race take place ahead of the main event of the Grand Prix.

After Ferrari’s difficulties in Melbourne when the SF-25 proved surprisingly off the leading pace despite a more promising showing in pre-season testing, Hamilton had said on Thursday he was going to try a different set-up on the car this weekend.

Whether as a result of those changes, or the car simply suiting the Shanghai International Circuit to a greater degree than Albert Park, Ferrari appeared more competitive from the get-go with Leclerc finishing second and Hamilton fourth in the sole one-hour practice session before Sprint Qualifying.

And then once into the weekend’s first competitive session in a sun-kissed Shanghai, Ferrari’s challenge only gathered momentum with Hamilton particularly coming to the fore on a track he has thrived on in the past.

The seven-time world champion was fastest by a tenth from Norris in SQ1, but fourth quickest in the Norris-topped SQ2 before then finishing fastest of all again in the decisive SQ3 phase as McLaren’s challenge unexpectedly wilted.

But it was a close-run thing in the end with Hamilton’s 1:30.849 pole-winning time proving just 0.018s quicker than Verstappen’s and 0.080s faster than Piastri’s final respective efforts.

“I’m hoping we can hold onto it [on Saturday] but I think the McLarens are very fast, as is Max,” added Hamilton ahead of the 19-lap Sprint race.

“But we are in a good position, we will stay positive and keep our heads high, and keep pushing forwards.”

Having outqualified Hamilton in Melbourne, Leclerc trailed his new team-mate in all three segments this time and was heard expressing surprise at Ferrari’s tactics in SQ2 when he was instructed to let Hamilton through ahead of him when running on their final out-laps of the second session.

Verstappen, who finished second to Norris in last Sunday’s season-opener, had also not expected to qualify so well, saying: “I’m very happy. In practice, we were quite a bit off so I’m very happy to be on the front row.”

What went wrong for Norris?

While McLaren’s early-weekend advantage had not looked especially dominant through the first two stages of qualifying, Norris’ table-topping SQ2 lap had still appeared to make him favourite for the event’s first of two pole positions.

But the Briton was off the pace in his first run of SQ3, leaving him under pressure, before a wide moment under braking for the hairpin at the penultimate corner led him to abandon his second and left him down in sixth place.

McLaren’s drivers completed two runs on their soft tyres in the final stage, whereas Ferrari were among those to opt for just one at the end.

“I made a mistake,” Norris admitted. “I locked up in the last corner.

“We just struggled a bit more now, just not quick enough, simply. Struggled a lot with the car. Just our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with showed a lot more today.

“So, nothing more than that, honestly. Just too many mistakes but just too difficult of a car to drive.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Chinese GP schedule

Saturday March 22

• 2.25am: Chinese GP Sprint build-up*
• 3am: Chinese GP Sprint*
• 5.45am: F1 Academy Race 1*
• 6.35am: Chinese GP Qualifying build-up*
• 7am: CHINESE GP QUALIFYING*
• 9am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday March 23

• 2.40am: F1 Academy Race 2
• 5.30am: Chinese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
• 7am: THE CHINESE GRAND PRIX*
• 9am: Chinese GP reaction: Chequered flag*
• 10am: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in Shanghai this week for the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime