The first practice session ended with qualifying for the sprint in the Chinese Grand Prix programme, where the huge surprise was Lewis Hamilton taking pole position!
SQ1 started similarly to what we have seen in recent times, with McLaren leading the way with Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli. However, in the final moments the situation changed and Scuderia Ferrari took over: Lewis Hamilton finished the part in first place, ahead of Norris and Charles Leclerc, while the two Alpine cars, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg and, surprisingly, Liam Lawson in last place were among the dropouts.
SQ2 started again with McLaren dominance, except this time they didn't give up the lead to the orange cars. Behind them Lewis Hamilton appeared again with a strong lap, but before we could write that he took third place, George Russell appeared, who squeezed in between two McLarens - Hamilton only took fourth place. Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoletto and Isack Hadjar had no such problems, they could already go for a shower.
After these events, it was time for the final act, in which, in a strange way, Scuderia Ferrari, and above all Hamilton, felt the rhythm and took the lead. Piastri was close to the Briton, and Norris did not even try to catch up with his compatriot. Not so Verstappen, who until the last moments had a serious chance to win the qualifying for the sprint. He did not succeed, he lost by a hair, so Lewis Hamilton has already achieved a "historic" success ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. It is worth getting up for tomorrow's sprint!
Photo: IMAGO
