Chinese GP Qualifying: Piastri takes first GP pole, Russell shines

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Chinese GP Qualifying: Piastri takes first GP pole, Russell shines

Oscar Piastri took pole for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, his first ever career pole for a grand prix as George Russell delivered an excellent final lap for Mercedes to line up second on the grid.

For the second day in a row, Lando Norris was not able to put in a decent lap together when it mattered, and aborted his second run in Q3 settling for defeat at the hands of Piastri.

And to make matters worse for the Briton, Russell dug deep in his Mercedes and dropped him down to third, the Mercedes driver falling just 0.082s short of Piastri’s pole time.

Once again, Max Verstappen drove the wheels off his RB, but his effort was only good for a second-row-start as he was fourth fastest, 0.176s off the pace as his teammate Liam Lawson was dead last once again.

Seven-time Formula 1 champion, Lewis Hamilton, could not replicate the magic that bagged him Sprint pole on Friday and had to settle fifth fastest on the grid, 0.286s off the pace but outqualifying teammate Charles Leclerc who was sixth as he could not get his head around the handling of his SF-25 this weekend.

Isack Hadjar, once again, showed that – if you are not Verstappen – the better Bull to be so far in 2025 might be the Racing Bull and not the Red one.

The rookie was seventh fastest over four tenths of pole and a tad faster than Andrea Kimi Antonelli who was eighth fastest in the Mercedes.

Yuki Tsunoda was superb, making Q3 one again, but a huge off moment in Q3 meant he was only ninth fastest ahead of a resurgent Alex Albon who was tenth in the Williams compared to 15th for his new teammate, Carlos Sainz.

Given the tyre degradation teams suffered from in the Sprint Race earlier on Saturday, it would interesting to see which of them has set the cars up for less degradation in the Grand Prix after breaking parc ferme before qualifying as the rules of a Sprint weekend allow.

What the top three said

Polesitter for the 2025 Chinese GP, Piastri said: “I found a lot of pace in Q3. Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling and the car came alive, I came alive in Q3. The laps were a little bit scruffy but I’m just pumped to be on pole.

“I want to make sure I keep the clean air,” he said of his race tomorrow. “I was pretty happy after the Sprint. We did the most we could. I would have been happier with one spot higher, but with how the race turned out I couldn’t have asked for much more.

“I feel like we learned a lot and I’m looking forward to putting that into use tomorrow,” the Aussie concluded.

 

“It feels incredible, to be honest,” second-placed Russell trumpeted. “It was one of the hardest qualy sessions I’ve done in a long, long time.

“I was trying all sorts with my preparation with the tyres and nothing seemed to be clicking. I did something totally different on that last lap and it all came alive, the lap was awesome. So happy to be P2.

“The last one [out lap] was a bit of a roll of the dice,” he revealed. “I had a big moment at Turn 1 but it just all came together. I was really surprised when I crossed the line, I knew it was a good lap but to be between the McLarens, just buzzing and looking forward to tomorrow.”

As for his expectations for Sunday’s race, Russell commented: “It’s going to be tough. The medium tyre in the Sprint was difficult.

“Obviously, I think most drivers will start on that at the front of the field tomorrow. The hard no one has ran all weekend. So we don’t know at the moment whether it’s going to be a one or a two stop.

“We know the McLarens are going to be quick but I’ll be doing everything to try and stay where we are or try to jump ahead of them,” Russell concluded.

Third-place Norris admitted making mistakes again, he lamented: “Always disappointed if I’m not on pole but Oscar deserves it today. He’s done a very good job all weekend. Happy for him and his first pole in F1.

“Just a couple of mistakes again, kind of been my case this weekend but the car has been feeling better today. A much better direction we are going in, especially yesterday when I struggled a lot and even this morning, so not too disappointed.

“We changed quite a lot on the car [after the Sprint] because we were nowhere, so let’s see [for tomorrow],” Norris concluded.

Q1: Lawson out again!

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With lessons learned from the Sprint Race earlier, the teams changed the setups on their cars as they got ready for qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Q1 started in clear conditions with track temperatures at 40 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 26 degrees.

No delays from the drivers who lined up in the pitlane and were out on track as soon as the green light was given. Some teams opted for new Soft tyres, others for used.

Hulkenberg led early on with Bearman, Bortoleto, Sainz and Stroll following. Soon after Ocon went to the top, as Doohan spun into the grass on his first attempt.

 

Then the heavy hitters started their laps, Norris going to the top with a 1:32.036 and Leclerc went on sixth fastest after a lockup. Hamilton soon went over three tenths faster than Norris with Piastri in third. Gasly was fourth with Ocon fifth.

Piastri then improved to go fastest, less than a tenth clear of Hamilton while Russell put his Mercedes in third as Verstappen started his flying lap. He went top of the pile.

Norris had his first lap time deleted for exceeding the track limits at Turn 9.

The top 15 order after the initial runs was: Verstappen – Piastri – Hamilton – Russell – Antonelli – Gasly – Ocon – Hulkenberg – Bearman – Leclerc – Bortoleto – Sainz – Alonso.

With less than eight minutes remaining, the second round of laps started to set the order of the top 15 drivers that will make Q2.

Replay showed Hamilton’s Ferrari’s going out of shape on his second attempt going into the long Turn 1, but catches the car.

In the final two minutes of Q1, action ramped up on track but Verstappen remained in the garage. With the session over, it was Norris who was the fastest with a 1:30.983.

Racing Bulls teammates Hadjar and Tsunoda were second the third respectively while the rest were as follows: Russell – Verstappen – Albon – Leclerc – Piastri – Sainz – Antonelli – Hamilton – Alonso – Ocon – Hulkenberg – Stroll.

Out of qualifying were Gasly in 16th ahead of Bearman in 17th as Doohan in 18th meant both Alpines were out of Q1.

Bortoleto was 19th ahead of Lawson in 20th… Verstappen made it through after one lap on use Soft tyres!

Q2: Sainz does not make the cut

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The remaining 15 driver queued up in the pitlane eager to start Q2 and try to book a place in the final top ten shootout on Saturday.

Antonelli went fastest briefly but then Russell dropped him to second as Hadjar was fourth while Tsunoda was second fastest.

Then Piastri went to the top over a tenth clear of Russell, but Norris soon went over four tenths faster than his teammate.

Leclerc sent seventh fastest while Hamilton was sixth – both on used tyres – as Verstappen went third fastest behind the McLarens.

The top ten after the first runs was as follows: Norris – Piastri – Verstappen – Russell – Tsunoda – Antonelli – Hamilton – Albon – Leclerc – Hulkenberg.

In the drop zone: Stroll – Ocon – Hadjar – Alonso – Sainz.

With less than five minutes on the clock, the final runs of Q2 began. Norris confidently remained in the pits.

Antonelli reported: “The Magic is stuck”. Remember what that did to Hamilton in Baku back in 2021?

 

Norris led the way into Q3 with 1:30.787 over three tenths clear of Verstappen in second as Piastri was third in the other McLaren.

Completing the top ten were: Hadjar – Tsunoda – Russell – Leclerc – Hamilton – Antonelli – Albon.

Missing out on Q3 were Ocon in 11th ahead of Hulkenberg in 12th while Alonso was 13th ahead of his teammate, Stroll in 14th.

Sainz was 15th fastest in the Williams, outqualified yet again by his teammate.

Q3: Norris chokes again!

Verstappen lined up first at the end of the pitlane waiting for the green light to go on signaling the start of Q3 of qualifying for the Chinese GP.

As they head out on track, an impatient Russell passed Verstappen out on track. Albon, on the other hand, reported that the wind has picked up.

Soon, Verstappen, Antonelli, and Hadjar started their flying laps. The Dutchman went fastest as Antonelli went second brushing the gravel on the final corner. Hadjar went second fastest.

Tsunoda was third fastest as Piastri went to the top, 0.222s clear of Verstappen while Hamilton was third with Leclerc behind him. Norris was only second behind Piastri.

After the first runs it was Piastri on provisional pole ahead of Norris and Verstappen. Hamilton and Russell were fourth and fifth respectively as Leclerc was sixth.

Hadjar was seventh ahead of Tsunoda in eighth while Albon was ninth. Antonelli was tenth as his lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits.

 

With four minutes remaining, the cars went out on track for the final time for another attempt at setting the top ten positions on the grid of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix.

Verstappen had a close moment with Hadjar in the Racing Bulls in the pitlane as they made their way out on track.

Verstappen started his final flying lap first as Hadjar followed with Norris chasing them in the McLaren.

Verstappen could not improve while Norris bailed out on his final lap while Hamilton could not improve from fourth as Piastri improves his time to secure pole.

Russell improved to second on his second run dropping Norris further down to third.

The top ten order: Piastri – Russell – Norris – Verstappen – Hamilton – Leclerc – Hadjar – Antonelli – Tsunoda – Albon

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