The first free practice session continued with the sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, where, to everyone's surprise, Lewis Hamilton took pole position!
SQ1 started similarly to what we have seen in recent times. McLaren was in the lead, with Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli. Then, in the final moments, the situation changed and Scuderia Ferrari took control: Lewis Hamilton finished this round in the lead, ahead of Norris and Charles Leclerc, while among the retired we recorded the two Alpines, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg and surprisingly Liam Lawson in last place.
SQ2 started with McLaren dominating once again, except this time they didn’t hand over the lead to the orange cars. Behind them, Lewis Hamilton emerged with a strong lap, but before we could write that he was third, George Russell arrived, slipping between the two McLarens – Hamilton was therefore fourth. Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoletto and Isack Hadjar had no such problems and were able to go to the showers.
After these precedents, the final act arrived, where strangely Scuderia Ferrari and especially Hamilton found the rhythm and took the lead. Piastri was close to the British, while Norris did not even try to reach his compatriot. Not so Verstappen, who until the last moment had a serious chance of victory in the sprint qualification. He did not succeed, he remained within a whisker, so Lewis Hamilton has already achieved a "historic" success ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. It will be interesting to wake up for tomorrow's sprint!
Photo: IMAGO
