Mercedes have had a strong start to the weekend in China as George Russell leads Kimi Antonelli in a front row lockout in Sprint Qualifying.
SQ1
Things didn’t go very well for Cadillac during their first Sprint Qualifying session as Sergio Perez would be unable to take part in SQ1 due to a fuel systems issue, while Valtteri Bottas was the slowest of those out on track, over a second slower than Lance Stroll in 20th place.
Williams, Aston Martin and Cadillac were clearly the three slowest teams in SQ1, with each team seeing each of their drivers eliminated. However, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto did find himself in the drop zone as the session started to end, but his final lap was quick enough to put him into 16th.
ELIMINATED
17. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.169
18. Alexander Albon – Williams +0.713
19. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.989
20. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +1.559
21. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac + 2.786
22. Sergio Perez – Cadillac NO TIME
SQ2
The Red Bull car was showing signs of being incredibly difficult to drive, with both Verstappen and Hadjar both looking like possible candidates for elimination in SQ2. Hulkenberg, Ocon and Lawson were all within one tenth of making it through to SQ3, but fine margins allowed both Red Bull cars to make it through in 9th and 10th place.
While both drivers would safely make it through to SQ3, there was an incident between Norris and Antonelli where the McLaren driver felt that Antonelli had impeded him at turn 1, and while the incident would be investigated, nothing would come of it.
ELIMINATED
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi +0.015
12. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.019
13. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0.094
14. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi +0.154
15. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls +0.428
16. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +0.707
SQ3
Mercedes had once again shown themselves to be the class of the field throughout Sprint Qualifying, and it was no surprise when Russell and Antonelli would top the timing table after the first laps were set, no one else being able to get close throughout the rest of SQ3.
Norris would climb up to 3rd just two hundredths ahead of Hamilton in 4th, while Piastri would end the session 5th despite setting the fastest first sector of anybody on track.
Red Bull’s drivability issues continued as Verstappen would only go 8th fastest behind the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, while Hadjar was 10th, more than two seconds slower than Russell in first.
Sprint Qualifying results
1. George Russell – Mercedes 1:31.520
2. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.289
3. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.621
4. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.641
5. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.704
6. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +1.008
7. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +1.368
8. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +1.734
9. Oliver Bearman – Haas +1.889
10. Isack Hadjar- Red Bull +2.203
