George Russell took another dominant pole position for the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix as Mercedes’ ominous form continued unabated.
Entering Sprint Qualifying, several drivers had to find pace and time following issues in the sole practice session. Sergio Perez added his name to those with problems, as he was ruled out of qualifying with a fuel issue.
McLaren and Ferrari looked to be the early challengers to Mercedes, but Ferrari dropped their “Macarena” rear wing due to reliability concerns over a race distance. The end of the session would give away if this was the correct decision.
SQ1
The traditional queue at the end of the pit lane formed, the field led out by the sole Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas. The two Mercedes remained in the garage as most of the lower order also chose to remain in the pits. Red Bull, on the back foot after FP1, set the early pace, Isack Hadjar edged out teammate Max Verstappen, as the two Ferraris took to the track to show their hand. Struggling with balance, Lewis Hamilton the faster of the two by half a second.
McLaren briefly went to the top, but Mercedes inevitably took the top spot, George Russell leading Kimi Antonelli. The track ramping up led to drivers getting closer to the Briton, fuelling hope others may get close to the Australian GP winner.
The two Audis made their intentions clear by jumping into the top half of the order, ensuring they would not feature in the lower battles. At the bottom of the timesheets, Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto needed to find almost a second, while the Aston Martin’s of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, and the Cadillac of Bottas were effectively cut off from the rest of the field.
Eliminated: Sainz, Albon, Stroll, Alonso, Bottas, Perez
SQ2
At the green light, only a few cars took to the track, with almost no queue in the pit lane. Given the close field spread in SQ1, the finest of margins and smallest of errors would settle a place in SQ3. Once again, the McLarens were out early, as Red Bull struggled with drivability issues on the RB22. The times came thick and fast in the opening laps, with multiple changes of leader, including a surprise in Pierre Gasly.
Ferrari showed their hand with Leclerc moving to the top before Mercedes resumed their position in P1. Trouble brewed for Antonelli however, as he blocked Lando Norris, noted by the stewards for slowing in Turn 1.
In the lower order, Esteban Ocon, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto were in the danger zone. Bearman jumped into seventh, placing bioth Red Bulls on the cusp, but were safe, while the others failed to progress.
Eliminated: Hulkenberg, Ocon, Lawson, Bortoleto, Lindblad, Colapinto
SQ3
With less than ten minutes to decide the grid, drivers were fairly relaxed in taking to the track. Warming up the soft tyres proved critical, with all weaving from side to side in the chase of maximum grip.
The Mercedes cars, now unleashed, set a searing pace, Russell four tenths of a second faster than the young Italian in the final sector alone. Rather than gaining on Mercedes, Ferrari were six tenths of a second away from Russell with Hamilton and a massive 1.2 seconds back with Leclerc. Verstappen’s first lap was 1.7 seconds back.
McLaren were next to show their hand, on a different run plan to the other teams. A challenge to Mercedes was out of the question, but the papaya cars were able to mix it with the Ferraris, Norris third, with Piastri sixth.
The scale of Red Bull’s deficit was laid bare in the closing seconds, with Verstappen down in eighth, almost two seconds adrift of Russell. The surprise of the session was Pierre Gasly, who an excellent seventh, splitting the Red Bulls.
Top 10: Russell, Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Leclerc, Gasly, Verstappen, Bearman, Hadjar
READ MORE: F1 2026 Chinese Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying Results
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