F1 Chinese GP: Russell grabs sprint race pole in Mercedes 1-2

George Russell dominated sprint qualifying to take pole for the Chinese GP sprint race

George Russell has taken pole for the sprint race of Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix, leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli for a Mercedes 1-2.

Like he did in Melbourne, Russell was fastest in all three qualifying segments at Shanghai; Mercedes outpaced rivals McLaren and Ferrari, with Max Verstappen down in eighth for Red Bull.

Russell set the tone by topping Q1 in 1m33.030s, leading the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. The second Mercedes was four tenths off, with the McLarens nearly eight tenths adrift.

Verstappen was only 11th then, complaining about his RB22’s “horrendous” driveability, followed by Oliver Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto, who both made it through despite excursions in the gravel trap at the exit of the last corner.

A lock-up at Turn 11 and lap time improvements at Alpine meant Alex Albon was eliminated alongside team-mate Carlos Sainz, the Aston Martins and Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac, nearly two seconds slower than Fernando Alonso. Sergio Perez was unable to take part in the session due to a fuel system issue with his Cadillac, after a similar gremlin took Bottas out of the Australian GP.

The Silver Arrows were last to take to the track in Q2 but rose to the top straight away, with Russell in 1m32.241s and Antonelli in 1m32.570s – but the Italian seemingly blocked Lando Norris in Turn 1. Other than Leclerc in 1m32.602s, nobody was fewer than nine tenths away from the lead Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images

As Antonelli improved to a 1m32.291s, Verstappen went wide in the final corner; the Red Bull very narrowly emerged out of Q2, with the Dutchman 0.071s quicker than 11th-placed Nico Hulkenberg while his team-mate Isack Hadjar was just 0.015s ahead of the Audi.

Both Audis and Racing Bulls were eliminated, alongside Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto, whose team-mates Oliver Bearman and Pierre Gasly outpaced the Red Bulls on their way to Q3.

Russell’s first Q3 benchmark was a 1m31.520s, outpacing Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen by 0.36s, 0.64s, 1.21s and 1.73s respectively. The other five cars, including the McLarens and Hadjar, remained in the garage until the last possible moment.

Antonelli improved by 0.07s on his second attempt; so did Leclerc by 0.20s, but it wasn’t enough to match their respective British team-mates. Norris climbed to third, narrowly beating Hamilton and Oscar Piastri. Verstappen and Hadjar qualified down in eighth and 10th, with Gasly a convincing seventh.

F1 Chinese GP - Sprint qualifying results

SPRINT GRID

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	1'31.520	214.418
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.289 1'31.809	213.743
3	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	+0.621 1'32.141	212.973
4	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.641 1'32.161	212.927
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	+0.704 1'32.224	212.781
6	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	+1.008 1'32.528	212.082
7	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	+1.368 1'32.888	211.260
8	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.734 1'33.254	210.431
9	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	+1.889 1'33.409	210.082
10	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	+2.203 1'33.723	209.378
11	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	+2.115 1'33.635	209.575
12	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	+2.119 1'33.639	209.566
13	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	+2.194 1'33.714	209.398
14	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	+2.254 1'33.774	209.264
15	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	+2.528 1'34.048	208.655
16	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	+2.807 1'34.327	208.037
17	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	+3.241 1'34.761	207.085
18	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	+3.785 1'35.305	205.903
19	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	+4.061 1'35.581	205.308
20	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	+4.631 1'36.151	204.091
21	V. Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	+5.858 1'37.378	201.519
22	S. Perez Cadillac-Ferrari	11	Cadillac	Ferrari
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