There was a certain sense of surprise in the air after the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, but pre-season favourites McLaren made sure that didn’t happen.
Q1 was a colourful spectacle as the entire field swapped places in a sense in the top 3. McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Racing Bulls led the way and eventually Lando Norris, Isaac Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda ended the phase in the top position. Pierre Gasly, Ollie Bearman, Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson were not so lucky or fast, saying goodbye to the rest of the race. The latter driver, painfully, was not doing so well and his boss gave him only one piece of advice before qualifying: avoid social media...
In Q2, similarly to the previous phase, the situation repeated itself, after a short argument between Mercedes, McLaren quickly took the initiative and did not relinquish it until the end. Once again, Lando Norris proved to be the fastest ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, while the list of those leaving included Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz and two names from Aston Martin.
After the first fast laps in Q3, we saw the same picture again: two McLarens in the leading position, with Verstappen right behind them. At this stage, it was almost certain that the orange team would take the pole, the only question was which driver, in which car, would do it. In the end, Oscar Piastri managed to get to first place, ahead of George Russell and Lando Norris. The end was incredibly close, we hope that these emotions will remain for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix!
Photo: Motorsportweek / PlanetF1
