The Saturday in F1 Chinese GP was hectic with the sprint race and main qualifying, which saw different type of results in a weekend of two halves.
The Saturday started in F1 Chinese GP with the sprint race won by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton after managing his tyres in free air. It wasn’t similar performance in qualifying where he ended up only fifth. The Brit is banking on the changes made to the car which he hopes will help in the grand prix.
Hamilton was in good spirits after the sprint win, but teammate Charles Leclerc wasn’t too happy with his run so far. He felt much better on Saturday but could only manage sixth albeit closer to the Brit. The two hope that their tyre preservation advantage will help them in the longer race.
The biggest challenge should come from McLaren pair where Oscar Piastri took his first F1 pole. He almost aborted his lap but found time in the final moments to continue on. It was a good all-round finish after second in the sprint race, where he learnt whole lot to make changes.
His teammate Lando Norris made a jump to third after bad sprint race. The struggle continues for him on the track, but he is pushing on. Despite the consistency, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen just doesn’t have the pace to be further up. The Dutchman did another fine job to be fourth in qualifying.
His teammate Liam Lawson was down and out in last. The Kiwi is unable to handle the characteristics of the car, as whenever he goes for a push, he loses control. Mercedes’ George Russell chipped in well to be second after unusual prep lap, as Andrea Kimi Antonelli couldn’t stitch a good lap in Q3.
Hamilton: “It’s been a really, really special weekend so far. Like, you know, China, Shanghai has always been really good to me since my first race here back in 2007. It’s a track that I really do love driving on. It’s got so many great challenges throughout. It’s one of the best new layouts that, or new tracks, that they’ve built over the last couple of decades. But yeah, to arrive today, it’s a much different view, starting from pole. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had that view. So I got in the car extra early because I just wanted to be present and enjoy it because I haven’t been there for a while. Good start. Challenging race. I think it is generally really close between all of us, but the tyre degradation today was pretty huge, I think, for everybody. So I think for me it was just trying to manage that early on and then… Yeah, the last like five laps or something, I was in a really pretty comfortable position. Yeah, I just… it’s hard to put into words what it feels like. Obviously it’s a Sprint race. It’s not the main race, but even just to get that is just a good stepping stone to where I’m working towards. We made a couple of changes to the car to rectify some of the problems we had, and I don’t know if it is the wind, but the car became quite snappy.
“The lap was not clean at the end, I should have been a couple of tenths ahead, we are not terribly far away but it is not ideal. The changes were to improve race performance, but it was definitely harder on the single lap, so it is going to be interesting. People were still struggling to follow in sprint race, so how you use the tyres is going to be key. If I can do the same like sprint, then great, but I am in a much different position for the race, I feel optimistic for tomorrow, I’ll try to get a good start and jump at least one car and slowly make my way up. Tonight, I am just going to make a masterplan of how to win and I’m going to try and execute it, that’s the mindset I have. There are going to be swings and roundabouts, right, there are going to be ups and downs and we didn’t expect to be fifth and sixth, or I didn’t expect to be where I am, but its what we are going to be faced with through the season. So we’ve just got to try and stay calm like this morning and we’ll see how it goes in the race.”
Piastri: “The sprint was tough. Probably one of the more difficult ones in terms of tyre degradation. So I knew I had to try and be patient. And yeah, I think I pretty much executed the Sprint that I wanted to. Probably one position short of what I wanted to do, but I think in terms of how I went about it, I was happy with the end result. So yeah, a pretty challenging race, but happy with it. In qualifying, my first lap was honestly better than my second lap, but just at the hairpin at the end of the straight I lost a bit of time and didn’t do the best hairpin. And then the second lap I was about two-tenths down on myself, so I kind of just went, why not send it into the hairpin, and I gained those two-tenths back and then found a little bit more in the last corner. So yeah, honestly, without that, I was tempted to box before that. So I’m pretty happy now that I didn’t, but it was—I just did a good corner, that’s all. I mean we changed a few things. I wasn’t perfectly happy with the car I had in Sprint quali and the Sprint this morning, so I was trying to make it a bit better for today—and honestly probably more for tomorrow.
“But yeah, I’m not sure yet whether it was necessarily better or worse. I think it was maybe a small step better. I think the pace both days has been similar. It’s just been, as Lando said, quite tricky to get lap times out of it. Through Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling and somehow found a lot of time in Q3 that I still don’t fully understand myself yet. So yeah, I mean I think even when you change things, you can’t turn the car upside down. It’s kind of got its characteristics that you have to live with, especially on a Sprint weekend. The car was quick yesterday, it was quick this morning, you’re not going to risk everything by trying to be half a second faster than everyone. So I think just some small things that were in the direction I wanted before the session and I’m not sure I want that now. But it did what I expected, at least.”
Norris: “I don’t think it was so much run plan. I just think we didn’t get as much out of the car yesterday. I obviously locked up and went straight. The car’s easily quick enough for pole, so I just did a terrible job yesterday. As for qualifying, I mean, it was tricky for everyone, I think. It’s just tight and close, but it was a much better job than we did yesterday—and I did yesterday. So the car was feeling much better and yeah, I was feeling definitely more comfortable. Still too many mistakes from my side. I’m not as comfortable as I was in Australia. Just tricky, but it is for everyone, and I just haven’t done the best job—and Oscar has done a very good job. So still a good result. I’m happy with P3, yeah. For the struggles, I mean, the layout is very different here to Australia—much more medium-speed, high-speed corners. There’s some slow speed too.
“That and just the car—the car is, I mean, we’ve said it many times, it’s definitely the quickest car, but it’s still tricky to drive. We can easily do good sectors every now and then, but putting a lap together—even like Oscar said, he was two-tenths down and then he’s kind of going for it and it stuck. But it seems just tricky to understand how to do it consistently enough. When you do that kind of good job, then it can easily be the quickest car. So a couple of things, and just more my driving—just that rhythm of knowing exactly what to do where, how much. Also, when you have the tyres and if you push a bit too much, the tyres can bite quite quickly too. So many different things, but also just Oscar’s done a good job and I’ve not done a perfect job. It’s tight, so I just paid the price for not doing well enough.”
Verstappen: “I would say like midway my tyres started to dip in sprint. You really started to feel that the deg was kicking in. Yeah, it just seemed a little bit more aggressive for us than maybe the cars around us. But I think that just comes from maybe also not having the base pace. You try to hang in there and you naturally just destroy your tyres a bit more. So to be in the top three, I think it’s still a good result for us. I mean, we started a bit more ahead than I think we should have anyway, so I’m pretty pleased with hanging in. The qualifying was alright but just a bit slow, I mean the gap looks quite close but I don’t think that’s the gap. It is bigger than what it is at the moment. I just focus on myself and I at least make sure that I can’t be upset myself with my performance, just trying to maximise what I can, help the team to improve the car, that’s what we can focus on. We made few changes, I hope it is a little bit better but I don’t expect to be night and day difference, if I can keep with cars ahead, we’ll find out.”
Russell: “It was really, really challenging because the weekend has been difficult for everybody to get on top of these tyres and knowing what the best sort of strategy in the session is—if you go hard on your formation lap or do you take it easy? And I was just sort of going all over the place. And on the last lap, I tried something very different, it worked, really strong lap, and the P2 was a real surprise. So really pleased with that one. I just came out the pits and went dead slow round that warm-up lap ahead of my fast lap. So the first lap in Q3 I was full gas on that lap and it seemed OK—I think I was in P5, but two-and-a-half, three-tenths behind Oscar. And then found four-tenths on my last lap.
“Just really came together and it feels really rewarding when you do your best lap of the weekend when it matters. And to be in the front row is a really great place to start for tomorrow. I think we’ve known realistically anywhere from P3 to P7 is where we are on a given day. And you saw, I think it was only two-tenths to P6 between ourselves, Ferrari, Kimi and Max. And just to be between the McLarens, I’m really proud of the job we’ve all done to secure that. We know how quick they are. So anything more than a P3 is a big result for any team at the moment.”
Leclerc: “There wasn’t anything more, a little bit frustrating because yesterday I wasn’t really on it, I had potential at that moment for pole. Like yesterday I was more on it, especially on a track where I struggle, I did the best of what was possible from my side today. We are just not fast enough today, I felt after Australia that if we put every bits together in quali, we would three tenths off, I feel like today we put every bits together and we are three tenths off – this is the gap between McLaren and ourselves. Yes, I made changes, mostly to make myself more comfortable with the car, and I felt more comfortable.
“It was easier with everything together, we are not just fast enough. That’s a positive sign [that we were able to be strong late in sprint race], especially with the longer stints tomorrow and longer race, hopefully we can use our advantage of tyre degradation but with dirty air as I experienced this morning, it is very difficult to make a pass on track, so it is going to be difficult to go on track but with strategy if we manage to put ourselves ahead by not being in dirty air, then I feel like we might surprise ourselves.”
Lawson: “In the sprint, not really, it is great to move forward but I am in a Red Bull, so finishing 14th is not really acceptable, obviously, I’ll try to go better for tomorrow, it is the priority. For qualifying, I mean it was one of those things, I started my lap too close and it shouldn’t be the difference between me getting through Q2 and not getting through. I should really be there on the first lap. It is just something that I need to get on top of. Small window and it is hard car to drive, it is hard to get in that window and I would love to say that with time, it will obviously come, I don’t really have time now to do it, so it is just something I need to get on top of. It is down to car characteristics, the way the car drives but obviously, if Max is able to drive it then I should as well.”
It was a good all-round show from the pair of Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda to be in the Top 10, with the Frenchman managing to finish ahead of the Japanese driver after the latter made a mistake on his final attempt in Turn 13. The former too reckoned he had more left to extract.
The two are gunning for points after Tsunoda managed to score in the sprint. Williams’ Alexander Albon made it in the Top 10 as well after not feeling 100% in the car in terms of pace. He feels they are down on Visa Cash App RB, as teammate Carlos Sainz couldn’t improve due to balance lack.
The Spaniard noted of changes made between sessions, but it didn’t bring much to him which he feels is normal considering the new start. There was some joy for Haas’ Esteban Ocon too who finish just on the cusp of the Top 10, which is stark improvement from Australia.
The car is still not 100% but he is happy to be in the fight, as Oliver Bearman blames traffic to miss out in a potential chance in Q2 which was something similar for Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and even Alpine’s Jack Doohan. The latter two collided in the sprint race, where the Australian apologised.
He was handed a penalty too. Bortoleto’s teammate Nico Hulkenberg showed where the car would have ended in 12th. But Doohan’s teammate Pierre Gasly was knocked out in Q1 as well. The pair of Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll made it in Q2, but they lacked pace.
Hadjar: “I think the best feeling I had was in Q1 with the car and then Q2 I think the wind was just changing a bit. I could never find the same balance, so I was struggling a bit more with the car and I knew I was losing out. I think there was more lap time, more positions to gain. [The result] shows the potential is really high but then at the moment, at this stage of my career, putting everything together on the final Q3 lap is the hardest exercise for me, so I need to work a bit on that. If I can get my start improved [to be] like Yuki, then I think I have a good shot at staying around where I’m at. Of course the goal is to score points.
“To be with the big boys, it’s definitely a good feeling. The problem is simply the launch in the first few metres; I think this morning was not amazing, and I have a few issues but I know what to improve. I hit the ground [running] in Melbourne straight away. Relative to the others, the car felt performant, but in terms of feeling compared to Bahrain, it didn’t feel like worlds apart. Maybe we are good at hiding [our testing pace], I don’t know, but we had the same package, so there’s no reason for the car to be much better.”
Tsunoda: “I just had a bit of moment in Turn 13 and went off track, didn’t able to finish the lap but until then, it was a pretty good lap to be honest but I wanted to do again, similar to Australia. I think as a team, we did a good job, we made a good step compared to sprint qualifying. I was not happy with my car in sprint, I was P8 which I didn’t expect it, I straightaway felt good in Q1 compared to what I had in SQ already, so the car gave me good confidence. It has good front end but also through corners, it has the balance compared to last year when we struggled with initial turn instability but we made a huge step to sort it out, put a glass on it, just felt a better car. If I can do what I did in sprint race, if I can get Antonelli, maybe I can pass then I am sure it is going to be a good race, I’ll be able to maximise more. It will be hard to defend but lets see.”
Sainz: “Same story, I did make it out of Q1 but I was still not feeling 100%. I was good enough to be in the Top 10 in Q1 and then I tried to push a bit more in Q2, I tried to find lap time. I did a few changes from yesterday, but it didn’t give me much. I think I went slower in Q2 than Q1, in the end you pay the price. I’ll have some homework to do to see how can we move up and see if it is something to do with qualifying as right now in qualifying it doesn’t work. I’ll work with my engineers to see what can be done. We changed tyres in sprint race to see how we did in clean air. We did quite the set-up change in quali, when you are new to a team it doesn’t help, because obviously you are finding a new car when you are going into qualifying like this but we are hoping that we can good in race.”
Ocon: “It is very positive, I think there’s more performance to come out of the car as well, we still struggle with few balance issues and few things. We have changed three part of the car from sprint to now, so the team did react super well, it was a massive step in terms of confidence for me and how I could take the corners and the car was much more together, so very-very good. Tomorrow is all about degradation that we will get in the race, we are not far off from points, so we are going to try are max to optimise what we have and see if we can get something decent. Obviously, we need to try and do that to be able to get because everybody seems to be very quick but it was only three hundredths away from Q3, hopefully we can get there.”
Alonso: “It wasn’t the best Qualifying for us today and we missed out on the top ten by one tenth. We had some difficulty with the out-lap traffic, but it was the same for everyone. We ended up making a few set-up changes to the car between the Sprint and Qualifying to try help us with improving tyre degradation for the race. We couldn’t see any advantage today, but let’s see if these changes have helped. I’m still hopeful for some opportunities tomorrow and we will try to score some points.”
Bortoleto: “In sprint, he (Doohan) locked up and hit me, there is nothing much to say, he missed the corner and that’s it. It happens sometimes, that’s what racing is. He said ‘sorry, I tried to…if I didn’t lock-up there then maybe I would have hit Esteban as well’. He ended up one car instead of two, it was less damage for everyone but it happens. I have done same in the past as well, I am not going to blame the guy forever. Obviously, it was avoidable, you are fighting for P19. In qualifying, I got a lot of traffic on the outlap with both Ferraris, they ended up doing a prep lap that I don’t think we expected, so I got stuck behind them the whole out lap, didn’t manage to put temperatures in the tyres then. Lewis overtook me one corner before the push lap, I needed literally to smash the brakes trying to make a gap to him, I started completely out of window and still I did the same lap time as second set but it wasn’t ideal like easily we could have improved some lap time there but it happens, not always you can be in right position in quali.”
Doohan: “It was a difficult sprint race, the DRS train was most difficult of all really. It was difficult to go forward, sitting within six-tenths for 10 laps, it doesn’t do any good for the tyres. Once I got past Nico, I got a bit free air, the tyre came back a little bit which allowed me to pass. In the end, I went for a move on Gabi, I made contact at the end of it, it was my fault. I learnt a lesson on that one and we move forward. I was looking a bit too much a bit too early on my qualifying lap, I lost it late entry and it was one of those slow spins – you prefer those than quick ones – and regroup for second one, sort of regrounded and put a steady banker down. The run 2 was bit unfortunate, lot of traffic and it got us tight on time to start our last time only few seconds behind, the car in front was Liam, you know the car in free air we try and maximise the performance.”
Here’s how F1 Chinese GP qualifying panned out
Here’s how F1 Chinese GP sprint panned out
