Max Verstappen wins his fifth Pole Position out of 5 held this Formula 1 season. The Dutchman thus closes a great Saturday after his success in the Sprint and gives everyone an appointment for tomorrow, where he will want to continue to impose his dominance. Red Bull shows all its value on the Shanghai circuit, placing the two RB20s ahead of everyone. Sergio Perez, in fact, will start alongside Verstappen. The second row will be opened by Fernando Alonso who continues to amaze with Aston Martin. Next to the Spaniard will be Lando Norris, who is looking for redemption after his disastrous start in the Sprint. The third row sees the other McLaren, that of Oscar Piastri, ahead of the first of the Ferraris, that of Charles Leclerc. Eighth row for the other standard bearer in red Carlos Sainz who places himself ahead of George Russell. The fifth row is truly surprising, with Nico Hulkenberg ninth for Haas ahead of Valteri Bottas for Kick Sauber.
The drivers who placed outside the Top10
With 6 and a half minutes to go, Q2 was interrupted by a red flag, due to an error by Carlos Sainz on the last corner. The Spaniard touches the curb and the sand and turns, ending up on the other side of the track and touching the guardrail. Once the track has been cleared, the session restarts and Sainz also returns to the track. The first of the eliminated was Lance Stroll, who just can’t match his teammate Alonso. Daniel Ricciardo will close the sixth row and for the first time in the season manages to beat his teammate in qualifying. The seventh row will see Esteban Ocon start with the Alpine ahead of Alexander Albon’s Williams. The last of the eliminated was Pierre Gasly. For the first time in this Formula 1 season, the Frenchman managed to get through Q1 with his Alpine.
In Q1 the first of the eliminated was the home idol Guanyu Zhou who with his Sauber does not give continuity to the good performance of yesterday and this morning. The penultimate row will see Kevin Magnussen start seventeenth, placing his Haas ahead of the twist of qualifying. Lewis Hamilton, the Pole Position specialist in Formula 1, did not go beyond eighteenth place due to an error on his last flying lap. The Briton hadn’t started this far back since the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP, a return to nightmare for him after the good performance in the Sprint. The last row is for Yuki Tsunoda who reported a problem with the DRS of his Racing Bulls and Logan Sargeant who will close the grid tomorrow on the starting grid.
China Formula 1 starting grid
Photo: FORMULA1 social profile
