Hamilton secures first pole for Ferrari ahead of Chinese GP Sprint

Lewis Hamilton has secured his first sprint pole position with Scuderia Ferrari having pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix. 

Feature image credit: Scuderia Ferrari

Hamilton who is the most successful driver at the Chinese Grand Prix, with six wins and poles at the event, has gone on to secure another pole position at the Shanghai International Circuit; Sprint Pole Position. 

In the first sprint qualifying event of the season, Hamilton broke the lap record at the circuit with a new 1m 30.849s lap time. He was two hundredths of a second faster than Verstappen who finished the session in second ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. 

Hamilton’s teammate, Charles Leclerc could only manage fourth-best ahead of the leading Mercedes driver, George Russell. McLaren’s Lando Norris looked to threaten Hamilton’s pole position but made a mistake at the hairpin and he quickly pitted to finish sixth overall. 

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli led the remaining top 10 drivers in seventh ahead of Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), Alexander Albon (Williams) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) in eighth, ninth and 10th. 

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso missed out on Q3 and qualified 11th ahead of Haas’ Oliver Bearman who is enjoying a better weekend, in 12th. Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar qualified 13th, 14th and 15th respectively. 

This left the Alpine duo of Jack Doohan and Pierre Gasly in 16th and 17th ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon, 18th. Nico Hulkenberg finished the session down in 19th ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Liam Lawson, 20th.

Read more Formula 1 here:

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• Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan dies aged 76
• FIA set to introduce stricter tests for the Chinese Grand Prix
• Winners and Losers of 2025 F1 Australian GP
• A ‘disappointing result’ from ‘positive’ Australian GP for Piastri
• Mercedes wins Australian GP Right of Review to promote Antonelli P4

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.