The first free practice session continued with a sprint qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix, where, to everyone's surprise, Lewis Hamilton took pole position!
SQ1 began in a similar fashion to what we've seen in recent times. Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, and Kimi Antonelli led the way with McLaren. Then, in the final seconds, the situation changed, and Scuderia Ferrari took the lead: Lewis Hamilton finished the stage in first place, ahead of Norris and Charles Leclerc, while the eliminated drivers included the two Alpines, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, and, surprisingly, Liam Lawson in last place.
SQ2 once again began under McLaren's dominance, with the difference that this time the orange cars didn't let the lead slip away. Behind them, Lewis Hamilton reappeared with a solid lap, but before we could write that he finished in third place, George Russell arrived and slipped between the two McLarens, so Hamilton finished fourth. Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoletto, and Isack Hadjar had no such problems and were able to go take a shower.
After such a stellar run, the final round began, where, strangely enough, Scuderia Ferrari, and especially Hamilton, felt the pace and took the lead. Piastri was close to the Briton, while Norris didn't even try to catch his compatriot. This wasn't the case for Verstappen, who had a very serious chance of winning the sprint qualifying race until the final seconds. It didn't materialize; he narrowly missed out, thus Lewis Hamilton has already achieved a "historic" victory ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. It will be worth getting up for tomorrow's sprint!
Photo: IMAGO
