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
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
Ferrari had started on the medium tyres, but it has proven to be a short-lived experiment and they have followed the rest of the back and moved onto the soft ones.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
Albon moves into 5th, but Piastri has moved top, leading Alonso and Verstappen, although this is only Q1.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
Alonso is leading Verstappen in Q1, but not by a lot, and Bottas is currently in third, which is a surprise, Russell and Hamilton in 9th and 11th.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
Perez is annoyed at Albon for getting in his way, the British driver believes he has got out of his way, but the Red Bull driver was angry in the message over to his team.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
There are just 10 minutes to go in qualifying, Hamilton has posted his first lap and he goes 8th quickest.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
Verstappen is quicker than anyone else by almost four tenths in the first sector, but Leclerc and Alonso have gone quicker than Russell.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
Max Verstappen is out on track, and he will post his first flying lap, he has finished pole in every race so far this season.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
Russell is currently top with 1:36.43, Norris in second by a 10th of a second.
F1 Qualifying LIVE - Q1
George Russell is on the soft tyre, as are most drivers, but Carlos Sainz has gone for the medium option.
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