Hamilton secures his FIRST pole position for Ferrari at the Shanghai International Circuit | Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Results

The drivers only got one practice session ahead of the sprint qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit. Lando Norris took pole for McLaren for the sprint race back in 2024 ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Norris secured pole at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix and has been looking dominant in his car in the early stages of this Formula 1 season. Both Ferrari drivers were looking strong during Free Practice 1 with Charles Leclerc finishing the session in P2 and Lewis Hamilton finishing the session in P4. The top rookie in Free Practice 1 was Kimi Antonelli who put his Mercedes in P9 by the end of the session. Unfortunately, the Alpine of Jack Doohan experienced some technical problems with him stopping his car and going on the radio to say he lost power steering. This brought out the Red Flag with 13 minutes left in the session. See what happened during the first Sprint Qualifying of the 2025 Formula 1 season:

SQ1

• Jack Doohan's free practice session ended early after the young Australian had to stop his Alpine due to power steering issues
  • This brought out the red flag with 13 minutes left in the session
  • Doohan was able to get out and participate in the qualifying session
    • He out-qualified his teammate, Pierre Gasly, with the Australian finished in P16 and the Frenchman finishing in P17
• Ollie Bearman and Lance Stroll were noted by the stewards for impeding, with two minutes left in the session
• Liam Lawson had a nightmare sprint qualifying session, only being able to put his Red Bull in P20
• After a very impressive Australian Grand Prix finish, Nico Hulkenberg only got his Stake to P19 on the grid, despite his rookie teammate, Gabriel Bortoleto, making it into SQ2
• Ollie Bearman also out-qualified his teammate, Esteban Ocon, to make it into SQ1 while the Frenchman only put his Haas in P18

SQ2

• Alpine was feeling like both Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan were either blocked or impeded during their fast runs, explaining the poor qualifying position
• The Stewards did not investigate the impeding issue between Ollie Bearman and Lance Stroll
• Four out of the five rookies made it into SQ2 with two of them out-qualifying their teammates
  • Ollie Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto both knocked their teammates out of SQ1
• George Russell seemed to struggle with his tires during SQ2
  • This didn't stop the talented Brit from reaching SQ3
• Carlos Sainz seemed to struggle in the final stages of SQ2 and was only able to put his Williams in P13 on the grid despite Alex Albon making it into SQ3
• Isack Hadjar had to abandon his flying lap, leaving the rookie without a time and putting him in P15 on the grid
• Gabriel Bortoleto finished the session in P14 but has officially out-qualified his teammate for a second time in a row
• Fernando Alonso was out-qualified by Lance Stroll with the Spaniard only putting his Aston Martin in P11

SQ3

• The drivers only have six minutes to set their fastest times in SQ3
• Both McLaren drivers looked the most dominant throughout the session and they seem like the most likely contenders for pole position
• Kimi Antonelli was the only rookie to make it into SQ3
  • The young Italian put his Mercedes in P7 on the grid
• Lando Norris struggled in SQ3 and only put his McLaren in P6 on the grid after a very dominant session
• Lewis Hamilton secured his first pole position with Ferrari ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri

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Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Results

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