Trackside view: Hamilton has China sprint pole, but Ferrari still struggling most of leading teams

The rolling cheers were the first clue. Reverberating as if sprint qualifying for Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix was taking place within a leisure centre swimming pool – such is the way the Shanghai track’s giant main grandstand traps noise - was the noise that greeted Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari pole.

At this stage, there was still Max Verstappen left to run as Autosport continued peeking through the trackside catch fencing as the sun began to set behind the long Turn 3 – the end of one of two ‘snail-shaped’ complexes at this track, as nicknamed by the event organisers.

The Red Bull driver wound up just 0.018s adrift of Hamilton’s leading 1m30.849s – largely thanks to Verstappen being alone of the frontrunners to avoid overstressing his rear tyres in the long Turn 13 left that feeds onto the back straight – and he was warmly applauded by the Shanghai crowd for his efforts.

But, for much of what this writer observed, it was the Ferrari that stood out from the rest in terms of car handling. And not in a good way.

Plenty else caught the eye first. How Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar repeatedly got tighter onto Turn 2’s apex kerbs, which was unsettling the Racing Bulls VCARB 02 when on flying laps, with Fernando Alonso doing similar at Turn 3.

For the Aston Martin driver, this seemed to have a knock-on effect for his subsequent power delivery, as his Mercedes engine burbled uniquely from the rest as the AMR25 oscillated significantly through the early phase of the long left-hander.

Trackside view

Photo by: Alex Kalinauckas

Here, Liam Lawson and Verstappen were taking similarly wide lines through SQ1, where the New Zealander was eliminated. But Lawson needed repeated steering input stabs to keep the nose rotating, whereas Verstappen was smooth and holding speed all the way around.

The difference was a massive 0.5s in the first sector on their respective fastest runs of Friday afternoon’s session – suggesting Lawson was missing momentum all the way down to the Turn 6 hairpin as a result, but with the caveat that he never got as far as using the softs in SQ3.

The McLaren drivers looked strongest here overall – although as they were still getting their tyres up to temperature, Norris was regularly grappling with the front axle in the short squirt as Turn 2 quickly unwinds into Turn 3, compared to team-mate Oscar Piastri.

It is, after all, the lap's later corners that doomed Norris on Friday – as he was improving rapidly before his Turn 14 lock-up and off that leaves him starting sixth for this weekend’s first race.

On both of their attempts in Q3 the MCL39 drivers had no issue rotating the front, but, unlike the two Mercedes cars, they are having no problem on traction early in Turn 3 either.

On his sole lap in SQ3, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to step off the gas catching a lurid rear end snap – something George Russell avoids and possibly as a result of him having done this back in SQ1.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

But the Ferrari cars are just different every time they come through – the inconsistency is what stands out when compared F1’s other top teams and this was the case back in Bahrain testing too.

The SF-25 was always shifting for both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, but at different points in this complex – although the movement was more noticeable on the mediums the drivers ran in SQ1 and SQ2.

For both Ferrari drivers, they were struggling to get on the power as early as the McLarens without their tails snapping right.

But, come the soft tyre run, it is only Hamilton that has a wobble – albeit much earlier in the corner just past the apex and, in any case, it hinders him little.

This still ends up being his best day overall since joining Ferrari at the start of this still-young 2025 season and sets up an intriguing grid for the campaign’s first sprint race.