After an exciting Sprint race that saw Lewis Hamilton claim victory, the Formula 1 drivers returned to the Shanghai International Circuit to battle for grid positions during Qualifying for Sunday’s Chinese GP. In a stunning performance, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri secured his first-ever Grand Prix pole position, demonstrating remarkable pace and composure throughout a challenging qualifying session.
Piastri’s Qualifying moment of glory
The final qualifying segment began with Verstappen attempting to set the early benchmark, but it was Piastri who delivered an impressive first run, beating the world champion’s time by more than two tenths of a second. Hamilton secured provisional third, with Leclerc just behind.
Championship leader Norris slotted into second, while George Russell split the Ferraris to complete the opening runs.
In the final attempts, Verstappen came up one tenth short of pole position, while Hadjar improved to seventh. Norris abandoned his final run, leaving Hamilton in fourth. Piastri managed to improve his time slightly, while Leclerc couldn’t find additional pace.
Russell made a valiant effort in his final run, coming within a tenth of Piastri’s time, but it wasn’t enough to deny the Australian his maiden pole position.
Piastri “worked hard” for maiden pole in Chinese GP
Speaking to the media after qualifying, a delighted Piastri reflected on his achievement. “It means a lot,” he said. “Been close a few times now and yeah, nice to finally have my first pole.”
“I’ve had a couple of Sprint poles, but to have the first Grand Prix pole means a bit more. So yeah, pretty pumped, to be honest. I’ve worked hard for it and I feel like the start of the season has been strong.”
The Melbourne native explained the crucial moment in his final qualifying lap, explaining, “My first lap was honestly better than my second lap, but just at the hairpin at the end of the straight I lost a bit of time and didn’t do the best hairpin.”
“And then the second lap I was about two-tenths down on myself, so I kind of just went, why not send it into the hairpin, and I gained those two-tenths back and then found a little bit more in the last corner.”
Comparing the qualifying performance to yesterday’s Sprint session, Piastri noted, “I think our car was fast yesterday, it was just the run plan we went for in Sprint qualifying I don’t think was the best one in the end. Today we knew that the session’s obviously a little bit longer so you can do two proper runs.”
What to expect from Piastri and McLaren at the Chinese GP
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Piastri identified tire management as the key challenge. “I think just making sure your tyres survive is the biggest thing,” he noted. “It’s the most deg we’ve probably seen and the most graining we’ve seen in a long time. So it’ll be interesting to see if it stays the same tomorrow.”
The achievement marks the first pole position for an Australian driver since Daniel Ricciardo at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix. “It’s always nice to go out there and represent my country,” Piastri said. “I’m a racing driver, so I’m selfish, so it’s nice to do it for myself, but it is also nice to do it for Australia as well.”
Piastri also commented on the resurfaced Shanghai track. “It’s pretty much a completely different track in my eyes,” he said. “We’re a lot faster than we were last year. I think when you have this much grip… some of the corners here last year, I kind of left thinking, ‘If the track had a bit more grip, some of those corners would be pretty incredible to drive.’ And this year, with this much grip, they are.”
