Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari career got off to a wretched start when he finished 10th in Melbourne but he made an instant mark in Shanghai by taking pole for the Sprint race
Lewis Hamilton announced his arrival as a Ferrari driver with pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race. The Brit was fastest overall in qualifying for the short form race in Shanghai, narrowly edging out Max Verstappen.
Hamilton has a stellar record in Shanghai throughout his Formula 1 career. And he added another chapter to his love story with the Chinese circuit by securing the first pole position of his Ferrari career, albeit only for the Sprint race which offers fewer points.
The Brit edged out Verstappen by just under two-hundredths of a second, the Red Bull racer having to settle for a place on the front row for the Sprint. Lando Norris looked to be a shoo-in for pole with McLaren looking imperious, but a mistake on his final flying lap proved costly.
The championship leader didn’t even bother completing his final lap, knowing that he had gone off track. He had to settle for just sixth place on the starting grid for the Sprint race and will hope for much better in qualifying for the main event.
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Hamilton, meanwhile, sounded as though he could scarcely believe it when he was informed of his result. He questioned it over the radio with his race engineer Riccardo Adami before letting out a long laugh when it was reaffirmed to him that he had gone faster than anyone else.
And he was beaming as he climbed out of the car and picked up a microphone for his post-session interview. Hamilton said: “Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to this amazing crowd we have here today. I didn’t expect that result, but I’m so happy and so proud.
“Obviously, the last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew there was more performance in the car, we just weren’t able to extract it. To come here to a track that I love – Shanghai is a beautiful place and the weather has been amazing – and the car really came alive from lap one.
“We made some great changes and the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I’m a bit… I can’t believe that we got a pole in the Sprint. Obviously, it’s not the main race, so we’ve got some work to do tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the Sprint race.”
After an interrupted pre-season testing and a wet race in Melbourne, Saturday’s Sprint in Shanghai – which should stay dry – is set to be Hamilton’s first true race run in standard conditions. Because of the lack of experience he has of that in Ferrari machinery, he says he is still unsure what to expect from his car.
He added: “I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain. Obviously we did a race last weekend in the wet, but tomorrow will be my first real long race run in this car. I’m hoping we can hold onto it, but the McLarens are very, very fast, as is Max. But we’re in a good position, we’ll stay positive, keep our heads high and keep pushing forwards.”
