Max Verstappen dominated all three segments to clinch pole position for tomorrow’s Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix as Red Bull locked out the front row of the grid.
The Dutchman became the first driver since Mika Hakkinen in 1999 to open the season with five consecutive poles, posting a 1:33.660s time to go three-tenths clear.
Despite almost exiting in Q1, Sergio Perez rebounded to ensure Red Bull claimed another 1-2 result, with Fernando Alonso claiming a solid third place for Aston Martin.
Following the rain-impacted session that scrambled up the grid for the earlier Sprint, an overcast afternoon in China set up a drier but still intriguing hour for the teams.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the nascent pacesetter with Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Perez requiring a second lap to ensure their progression to Q2 was guaranteed.
But while Norris and Perez managed that, Hamilton, second in the Sprint, locked up into the Turn 14 hairpin and slipped down the order as others improved to 18th place.
Although he was eight-tenths behind Verstappen’s pacesetting time, Hamilton sustained a premature exit and ended up behind both Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen.
Yuki Tsunoda’s challenging weekend continued as he dropped out in 19th, with Logan Sargeant, who span on his final run, the only driver to be classified behind the RB.
The Q2 session had not long begun when the red flag was waved due to Sainz running wide on the exit of the final turn and hitting the barrier as he spun across the track.
However, the Spaniard was able to get himself going again and toured back around to the pits, a front wing light to put his participation at risk as the clock ticked down.
The sporting regulations permit that a driver who had been stopped on track will not be able to resume in the session, which race control reported that Sainz had done.
But Sainz did take to the track in Q2 to stake his claim for a place in the top-10 Q3 shootout and posted the third-fastest time under pressure to ensure his progression.
Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly weren’t as fortunate and all dropped out of qualifying at the end of Q2.
With Verstappen again at the top of the timesheets with Perez alongside, attention now turned to Q3 and the Dutchman set the benchmark with an effort of 1:33.977s.
Meanwhile, Alonso slotted into a provisional second place, 0.394s back from Verstappen but enough to split the Red Bulls as Perez continued to battle set-up troubles.
The final runs would see Verstappen remain unopposed, but several drivers took their turns to claim a spot on the front row, with the Ferrari drivers the first on the road.
But Oscar Piastri then demoted the Italian marque’s driving pairing before his team-mate Lando Norris, Alonso and then Perez ended up slotting into second position.
Verstappen, though, was not toppled and even improved down to a 1:33.660s to take Red Bull’s 100th pole position at the venue where it claimed its first back in 2009.
Perez finished 0.322s back from his team-mate in the finale timings to pip Alonso at the death, who was over a tenth adrift but ahead of Norris and Piastri for McLaren.
Piastri will share the third row with Leclerc, who pipped team-mate Sainz to end a three-round run starting behind the sister car. George Russell wound up eighth fastest.
Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas both put in impressive one-lap performances throughout to ensure Haas and Sauber have a car each in the top 10 for the grand prix.
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