Late cost at China Grand Prix sees Lewis Hamilton safe his first Components One dash pole since becoming a member of Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton has astonished the gang and himself by securing his maiden dash pole place for Ferrari within the remaining moments of qualifying on the Chinese language Components One Grand Prix.
Hamilton arrived in China after a disappointing season-opening race final weekend in Australia, the place he completed tenth. He solely managed fourth quickest in opening apply on Friday for a modest enchancment in Shanghai.
He topped the primary part of dash qualifying, earlier than the dominant McLaren of Lando Norris took over in SQ2. An aborted lap from the McLaren driver, following a mistake on his remaining lap, handed Hamilton his likelihood – and the seven-time world champion took it in gorgeous model with lower than a minute remaining.
Hamilton’s time was simply 18 one-thousandths of a second forward of Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Norris’s McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri third. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, with Mercedes’ George Russell closing out the highest 5.
“I didn’t count on that outcome, however so, so pleased and so proud,” Hamilton stated. “I believe clearly the final race was a catastrophe. Clearly we knew that there was extra efficiency within the automobile however we simply weren’t in a position to extract it,” in Melbourne.
“So to come back right here to a observe that I really like — and the automobile actually got here alive. The staff did a implausible job to get the automobile prepared and yeah, I’m a bit in shock.”