Chinese F1 GP: Hamilton takes stunning first sprint pole in a Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton won his first sprint pole position for Ferrari in the final moments of Chinese Grand Prix, amazed both the crowd and himself.

Hamilton returned to China after finishing 10th in the Australian season-opening race last weekend. For a slight improvement in Shanghai, he only managed fourth in opening practice on Friday.

Before Lando Norris’ dominant McLaren took over in SQ2, he dominated the first section of sprint qualifying. Hamilton’s chance was aborted by the McLaren driver after a mistake on his final lap, and the seven-time world champion completed it in stunning style with less than a minute left.

Hamilton finished third behind Max Verstappen and Max Verstappen by 18 one-thousandths of a second, behind Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari came in fourth place, with George Russell of Mercedes coming in third.

Although I didn’t anticipate that outcome, Hamilton expressed his happiness and pride in the outcome. “It’s obvious that the previous race was a disaster,” he said. In Melbourne, it is obvious that we knew the car had better performance, but we simply couldn’t extract it.

“So to come here to a track that I adore,” the car really came to life. I’m a little shocked because the team did a fantastic job getting the car ready.