Championship pacesetter George Russell took pole position on Friday for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, leading a Mercedes one-two ahead of Kimi Antonelli.
Russell clocked 1min 31.520sec around the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit, 0.289sec quicker than Antonelli with world champion Lando Norris 0.621sec behind his fellow Englishman in third.
Joining Norris on the second row for Saturday morning’s 19-lap race will be Lewis Hamilton, winner of the China sprint a year ago.
The seven-time Formula One world champion was fourth in his Ferrari, 0.641sec slower than Russell.
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“The car’s been feeling amazing,” said Russell, who leads the championship after winning the season-opening race in Australia last weekend.
“We knew after Melbourne we had a really good car. The engine’s performing really well. And today it was a real joy to drive, so I’m happy,” added Russell.
Italian teenager Antonelli said he had room for improvement.
“The pace is very strong. Just didn’t put the lap together at the end on the softs. Still some work to do. It’s all to play for tomorrow,” said the 19-year-old.
Piastri ready to move on after Aus GP | 01:31
The McLarens left it till late in the final qualifying session to go out for their single flying lap, hoping to take advantage of the track at its quickest.
It paid off as Norris got ahead of the two Ferraris and Oscar Piastri split them, coming in fifth fastest.
“Actually pretty happy to beat both of the Ferraris today because they seem pretty good the whole day,” said Norris.
“Satisfied, good position for tomorrow. Certainly things have been better this weekend.”
Hamilton, fourth last week in Australia, said he had enjoyed a good Friday again in Shanghai, where he took a surprise sprint pole this time last year for Ferrari.
“Really pleased with the session, my team did a really great job,” said Hamilton.
“The car generally felt great, it’s just we’re losing on the straights (to Mercedes), so yeah we have a lot of work to do.”
His teammate Charles Leclerc, third in Melbourne last week, was sixth fastest. Pierre Gasly was seventh for Alpine.
The Chinese GP Sprint commences on Saturday at 2pm AEDT.
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