Lewis Hamilton declared himself “gobsmacked” after securing his maiden Ferrari sprint race pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix.
With Lando Norris’ McLaren in sixth place and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth, Hamilton outqualified Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The seven-time champion, who made his Ferrari debut in Australia last weekend and qualified seventh, said, “I’m a little surprised by it.
“I had no idea when we would reach this point, and the week got off to a rough start following last weekend. I arrived with a strong desire to bring the car into a fantastic position throughout the weekend.
“I can’t believe we’re at the front, and I started out in the car feeling better right immediately. I’m a little overwhelmed.”
Even though Hamilton set a career record of 104 race pole positions, he has never been in first place on the sprint grid.
Only at the 2021 British Grand Prix, when Verstappen passed him at the start and he had to settle for second place in the 17-lap race, has he been the sprint pole-sitter.
Twenty months have passed since Hamilton’s last race pole in the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hamilton outqualified Leclerc by 0.208 seconds and Norris by 0.544 seconds for his Shanghai achievement.
As a result, Hamilton will start in the lead in Saturday’s shorter sprint race at 03:00 GMT. The teams can then adjust their car setups before the grand prix qualifying at 7:00.
“I’m really inspired to go into tomorrow and try to find more performance and see if we can compete again, even though it’s not the main pole,” Hamilton stated. There is undoubtedly a bit more performance to be found.
“I had trouble on my side of the garage,” Leclerc remarked. Lewis was simply faster, and I felt like I was lagging behind him from the start.
“I had a lot of trouble in Turns One, Two, and Three, which is essentially the same as last year. Everything was pretty tight except for that. Lewis is on pole, so maybe we can have a solid race, even though it’s unfortunate that we start P4.
Oscar Piastri of McLaren came in third, behind Verstappen in second, and ahead of Leclerc, George Russell’s Mercedes, and Norris’ Mercedes.
According to Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, the outcome reflects the fierce rivalry among the top four teams as well as the challenge of getting the vehicles into the ideal setup window and having the tires performing at their best.
According to Vasseur, the day was a little challenging to read. We were ahead in the first quarter, McLaren was in the lead in the second, and we were back in the third.
“I believe it has to do with tire management. You are having a lot of trouble if you are not in the correct window, but the team benefits.
“Friday was okay, but the weekend in Melbourne was difficult. It is quite erratic, much like this weekend.
“It is exactly the same picture as last year – the last four races, three or four teams were able to win by 30 seconds from track to track depending on the tyres.”
