Lewis Hamilton takes first pole position as Ferrari driver for Chinese GP sprint
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the first sprint race of the year and will line up alongside Max Verstappen on the front row at Shanghai International Circuit on Saturday.
It marks the Briton's first pole position for Ferrari, and it comes after a rough outing in Australia, where the Prancing Horse appeared far off off the pace compared to the other top four teams.
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McLaren, though, wasn't far off. As the seconds counted down, Lando Norris dove into the pits, and Oscar Piastri was unable to beat the Ferrari driver's time, just 0.08 seconds off in P3. The Australian driver will line up on the second row next to Charles Leclerc for Saturday's sprint race while Norris is down in P6.
The result is a repeat of the 2021 British Grand Prix weekend — F1's first sprint race — where Hamilton started P1 and Verstappen lined up alongside him.
The Dutchman came out on top in that sprint race, finishing 1.43 seconds ahead of the then-Mercedes driver. Hamilton and Verstappen endured a competitive battle for the world championship that season, but this year, Red Bull is struggling a bit for competitive pace.
Verstappen told F1 TV that he didn't feel 'we should've even been on the front row anyways.' He does think it'll be harder to keep the McLarens behind during the sprint race, considering Norris and Piastri were quick up until those final runs.
The sprint race is at 11 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET // 3 a.m. GMT).
Analysis by senior F1 writer Luke Smith
After their rough start in Australia, this is the boost that Hamilton and Ferrari needed at the start of their new partnership.
Hamilton endured a pretty miserable first weekend in red after weeks of hype, qualifying eighth and finishing 10th. He vowed after the race that there was more pace in the car, it just needed unlocking, and was confident there would be a series of setup changes to help take a step for the China weekend.
That's led him to sprint race pole today. No, it's not an 'official' pole position, but his laughs over the radio when engineer Riccardo Adami informed him he was P1 and huge smiles afterwards in parc ferme showed just how much it meant to him. 'I can't believe we got a pole for the sprint,' Hamilton said in the post-session interview.
It was a very close session where the drivers needed to make the difference. Hamilton did precisely that. A hard-earned sprint pole that should give an extra verve of excitement to the next step of what will still be the story of F1 in 2025.
'I didn't expect that result,' he said afterwards. 'But so, so happy and so proud. I think obviously the last race was a disaster for us. And clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car, we just weren't able to extract it.
'So to come here to a track that I love, Shanghai, beautiful place, and the weather has been amazing and the car really came alive from Lap 1. We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready.
'I'm a bit in shock. I can't believe we got a pole in the sprint. It's obviously not the main race, so we've got work to do for tomorrow. But this puts us in good stead for the race.'
When the checkered flag fell on SQ1, Hamilton sat on provisional pole, 0.184 seconds ahead of Norris and 0.306 seconds ahead of teammate Leclerc. It's the most competitive that we have seen the Ferraris, which were off pace in Australia.
The rookies also (mostly) bounced back. Hadjar, who crashed on the formation lap of the Australian GP, went ninth fastest in SQ1, just ahead of Bearman. Bortoleto outqualified his teammate, just narrowly escaping into SQ2. Kimi Antonelli was the highest sitting rookie, setting the seventh-fastest lap in SQ1, but it comes as little surprise considering how he powered his way from P16 to P4 in Australia last weekend.
Meanwhile, Lawson made a mistake on his final flying lap, and he's left last in qualifying.
SQ1 CLASSIFICATION
Hamilton on top 🔝#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/GTLFdcyuPw
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 21, 2025
It returned to business as usual, with Norris setting the fastest lap of SQ2 at 1:31.174. The Mercedes duo of Antonelli and Russell looked in trouble until the final runs, which launched the Briton to P2 and the Italian driver to fifth for that session. But the biggest surprise came from Albon, the Williams driver sneaking into SQ3 while teammate Sainz was out at the end of the session.
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Racing Bulls showed teamwork, with Hadjar giving Tsunoda a slipstream after making a mistake on his lap. The Japanese driver made it into SQ3 by just 0.021 seconds. The Aston Martins also were split, with Alonso being knocked out while Stroll advanced.
Meanwhile, Verstappen sat in the middle of the pack again, He went fifth fastest in SQ1 and sixth fastest in SQ2.
(Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)
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