Oscar Piastri claims maiden pole position for Chinese GP
22nd March 2025McLaren’s Oscar Piastri claimed his maiden Formula 1 pole position, for the Chinese Grand Prix, narrowly pipping Mercedes’ George Russell.
Feature image credit: McLaren Racing
Piastri claimed that he put in the hairpin of his life to secure his first-ever F1 pole position as he finished qualifying with a 1m 30.703s lap, a new lap record which beat Hamilton’s during sprint qualifying.
It looked as if it would be a McLaren 1-2, with Lando Norris, but it wasn’t meant to be as Russell found a chunk of lap time to split the two McLarens in second. The Mercedes driver missed out on pole position by under a tenth of a second.
As such, the top three stood; Piastri, Russell and Norris.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completed the session in fourth, ahead of Ferrari’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton and, teammate, Charles Leclerc in fifth and sixth.
Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar led the team with a seventh-place finish whilst Yuki Tsunoda occupied ninth. This left Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Alexander Albon to complete the top 10 in eighth and 10th, respectively.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon was the fastest driver in the bottom 10 as the Frenchman qualified 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and the two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, in 12th, 13th and 14th. Williams’ Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 15.
The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan saw early Q1 eliminations with a 16th and 18th finish as Oliver Bearman (Haas) sandwiched himself in between the two drivers, in 17th.
Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Red Bull Racing’s Liam Lawson completed the 20-car field in 19th and 20th, respectively.
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Lewis Hamilton claims maiden sprint race win at Chinese GP
- Hamilton secures first pole for Ferrari ahead of Chinese GP Sprint
- Norris fastest in sole F1 practice of Chinese GP
- 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
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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.
