Hamilton Takes Sprint Pole in China

By: Mark Gero, motorsports writer of two decades

SHANGHAI, China—Call it just luck or did the seven-time world champion finally get ahold of his Ferrari. But either way, Lewis Hamilton, following a lackluster performance last week in Australia, managed to set things straight and take pole for Friday’s sprint race by clocking a 1:30:849 best time, and will start on the front row next to his nemesis, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri taking third.

For Hamilton, it will be the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2023 that he will be starting alongside the Dutchman. But Hamilton afterwards did not care but was surprised that this type of result came so quickly.

"I didn't expect that result," he said. "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."

Verstappen was also surprised that the lap he did felt like the result would not be as good as he expected.

"My lap was very good.” Verstappen replied. “It was very tough. When you go from the medium to the soft you have to nail the lap, with no references. Of course, when you look at it, it was 0.018 seconds, but I don't even think we should have been in the front row anyway, so I'm very happy to be second."

Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari was fourth, with Mercedes George Russell fifth.

Lando Norris, who was the winner at the last round, was on a good flying lap in his McLaren, but made a mistake on turn 14 and ended up in sixth. 18-year-old sensation Kimi Antonelli with his Mercedes starts in seventh, with Racing Bulls Yuki Tsunoda eighth. Williams Alexl Albon took ninth and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top ten.

The coverage of the sprint race will vary, but the event will be on Friday, ahead of Saturday qualifying and the Sunday race.