Max Verstappen maintained his excellent form by securing a commanding pole position at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix, marking Red Bull’s 100th pole in their history.
Verstappen led each session at the Shanghai International Circuit and further improved his time in Q3 to a standout 1m 33.660s. The fight for the second spot was intense, but his teammate Sergio Perez ultimately claimed it.
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Fernando Alonso drove his Aston Martin to third place, staying ahead of the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Charles Leclerc finishing sixth.
Carlos Sainz recovered to seventh place after spinning into the barriers in Q2, which caused a session interruption due to a red flag. George Russell was the fastest Mercedes, securing eighth place. Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten, placing ninth and tenth, respectively.
Lance Stroll missed out on the top ten, finishing eleventh, just behind Bottas who moved up late in the session. Daniel Ricciardo also failed to make the cut, ending up twelfth.
The Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, who both reached Q2 for the first time this season, finished thirteenth and fifteenth respectively. Alex Albon, in the Williams, was sandwiched between them in fourteenth.
The session brought a surprise as Lewis Hamilton was unexpectedly eliminated early, finishing eighteenth. Home favorite Zhou Guanyu also bowed out early, finishing sixteenth amid struggles for grip. Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda, and Logan Sargeant were also among those eliminated early, finishing seventeenth, nineteenth, and twentieth respectively.
Chinese GP Qualifying Results
2024 Chinese Grand Prix, 20 April 2024
Hamilton Struggled in His Worst Qualifying in Two Years
Lewis Hamilton, a six-time winner at the Shanghai International Circuit, faced a bleak outlook for a strong finish in the race’s return—the first since the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite his historical success in China, Hamilton’s chances of another win were distant.
In Friday’s wet qualifying session for the Sprint, Hamilton managed an unexpected second-place finish, showcasing his skill as one of the sport’s acclaimed ‘rain masters’ and compensating for his car’s inconsistent performance.
He maintained a lead for the first eight laps of the 19-lap Sprint race, starting ahead of pole-sitter Norris, only to be passed by Verstappen in the faster Red Bull.
However, the transition to an all-dry qualifying session on Saturday marked a downturn for Hamilton. Finding himself in the Q1 elimination zone after an initially sluggish lap, he seemed poised to advance to Q2 in his final attempt. Yet, a lock-up under braking led him wide at the final hairpin, causing him to miss progressing by just 0.116 seconds. This marked Hamilton’s first Q1 exit since the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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