Chinese GP: Piastri takes first F1 pole after sprint second

Oscar Piastri’s fastest lap of the Shanghai International Circuit has been the first proper pole position for his Formula One career at the Chinese Grand Prix.

After the Mercedes driver put in a storming final effort of 1: 30.733, the Australian, a two-time race winner with sprint poles, was joined on the front row for Sunday’s start by George Russell.

Lando Norris, the championship leader and winner of the season-opening race in Australia, will start third, with Max Verstappen coming in fourth, while Piastri improved his time.

Lewis Hamilton, who had won the previous sprint race, was fifth, 0. 286 seconds off the pole position, and teammate Charles Leclerc, who was sixth, filled the third row for Ferrari.

Piastri, who started in Australia on the front row but finished only ninth overall, said, “The laps were a little bit scruffy but I’m just pumped to be on pole.”

Piastri finished second in the sprint and is now anticipating a much bigger points haul on Sunday. He became the first Australian to take pole since Daniel Ricciardo in 2018 in Mexico. He is also the 107th pole sitter in F1 history.

Oscar’s first pole is awesome, I think. He’s had a lot of front rows, and that was a “mega lap,” according to McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown.

After struggling to finish eighth in the sprint, Norris was much happier with his own car and congratulations to Piastri on his success.

He blamed himself for some errors, saying, “We changed quite a lot on the car (after the sprint) because we were nowhere.”

Mercedes overcame tire trouble to come in second.

Mercedes’ Russell claimed that while working the tires, everything changed on the final turn.

He continued, “That last lap was incredible, and I did something completely different.

Turn one produced a significant moment, but it all came together. When I crossed the line, I knew it was going to be a good lap but I was just buzzing between the McLarens, was really surprising.

Isack Hadjar, a rookie Frenchman, finished seventh for Racing Bulls, beating out Yuki Tsunoda and Andrea Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes.

Alex Albon placed ninth overall in a Williams.

Liam Lawson, Verstappen’s teammate, will start last after another poor qualifying session.

The New Zealander said, “I have to get a handle on it.”

“It was a messy session, and if we hadn’t handled traffic and other issues like that, it might have been okay,” he said.

I just need to take care of it, they say. It’s just going to happen, I believe. I don’t really have time, sadly.

When asked if a driver had been hired to replace Sergio Perez, who had been outperforming, and scored well, Red Bull boss Christian Horner acknowledged it had been a difficult day for Lawson.

He promised to “we’ll go over it and go over it and try to give him the best car for tomorrow.”