F1 Chinese Grand Prix LIVE: Qualifying updates in Shanghai as Max Verstappen claims Red Bull’s 100th pole
Formula 1 updates from the Shanghai International Circuit as China hosts the first sprint weekend of the season
Lewis Hamilton’s troubled start to the new season took another desperate twist on Saturday after he qualified a lowly 18th for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Hamilton earlier in the day had led the sprint race in Shanghai for eight laps before he had to settle for runner-up after he was overtaken by eventual winner Max Verstappen.
But less than four hours after Hamilton’s drive to second place - a result he described as his “best in a long time” - the 39-year-old was brought crashing back down to earth when he was eliminated in the opening phase of qualifying for Sunday’s main event.
The seven-time world champion locked up at the penultimate corner on his speediest lap, and he finished in the Q1 knockout zone, leaving only RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Logan Sargeant behind him on the grid.
Verstappen beat Hamilton by an impressive 13 seconds in Saturday’s sprint and he raced to a perhaps predictable pole position.
The Dutch driver, who is on course to take his fourth consecutive world championship, saw off team-mate Sergio Perez as Red Bull secured a front-row lockout. It also marked Red Bull’s 100th pole in F1.
Verstappen finished 0.322 seconds clear of Perez, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso third. Lando Norris, who dropped from pole to finish sixth in the sprint race, qualified fourth ahead of Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren.
Charles Leclerc and Sainz finished sixth and seventh respectively for Ferrari, while George Russell could manage only eighth on a poor afternoon for the Silver Arrows.
Follow live coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix with The Independent
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
Charles Leclerc has just been told that the rain is expected to hit at the end of his timed lap in this next session. Due to the earlier fire the cars are sat in the pit lane waiting for the green flag.
SQ2 will be 10 minutes long and the top 10 drivers will make it into the final session.
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
As the track management team get the fire under control there is a slight delay before the second qualifying gets started. The weather forecast shows that the rain should hit in force in between the next two sessions.
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
Here are the five drivers knocked out from Sprint Qualifying in the first session:
16) Pierre Gasly
17) Esteban Ocon
18) Alex Albon
19) Yuki Tsunoda
20) Logan Sargeant
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
At turn 5, the sparks from the cars hitting the apex have set the circuit side grass alight once more and there’s another fire been started.
It’s one to keep an eye on as it may causes issues for the next qualifying session.
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
On the last attempt before the chequered flag George Russell cuts three tenths off his previous lap time and shoots up to 13th on the leaderboard to sneak into the second qualifying session!
Zhou Guanyu makes it into the next session as well which will delight the Chinese fans.
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
With three minutes left there’s still time to get another quick lap time in as the drivers attempt to position themselves for Q2. George Russell is at risk of being eliminated for Mercedes and is currently 17th fastest.
A 1:36.3 from Lando Norris takes him up to second place.
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
Charles Leclerc takes three hundreths of a second off Hamilton’s time to take top spot with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri crossing the line for their first qualifying lap in second and third place for McLaren.
Things are only getting quicker as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll land in the top five before Max Verstappen, to no surprise, sets the quickest lap.
Sergio Perez goes even better with a time of 1:36.110!
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
12 minutes isn’t long at all to get onto track, warm up the tyres and set a quick lap time. It’s even harder with a bit of rain around making the circuit slippier.
Hamilton is fastest through sector two as George Russell radios back to the pit wall to say that the rain is starting to fall.
1:37.239 is the time set by Hamilton who goes top of the leaderboard.
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
Both Williams cars and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes head onto the track. Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu has also set off early on in this session.
Chinese Grand Prix LIVE
Where will the sprint races take place this season?
There will be six sprint races this season:
1) ROUND 5 - CHINA
Shanghai International Circuit - 19-21 April
2) ROUND 6 - MIAMI
Miami International Autodrome - 3-5 May
3) ROUND 11 - AUSTRIA
Red Bull Ring, Spielberg - 28-30 June
4) ROUND 19 - USA
Circuit of the Americas - 18-20 October
5) ROUND 21 - BRAZIL
Interlagos Circuit - 1-3 November
6) ROUND 23 - QATAR
Lusail International Circuit - 29 November - 1 December
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