Ferrari will start from first row of the grid for the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel has set track record lap, but it wasn’t easy for the four-time-world-champion, who had to beat his team mate Räikkönen who was dominating the qualifying. Bottas was third, ahead of Hamilton who wasn’t comfortable behind the steering-wheel of his Mercedes.
Qualifying 1
At the start of the qualifying top teams such as Ferrari and Mercedes went out with ultra-soft compound to assure their access to Q2. German Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) set the fastest lap of the session with a time of 1:32.171, ahead of his team-mate and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes AMG).
Red Bull after an engine failure on Daniel Ricciardo’s car during practice 3, they managed to repair the car to just make one fastest lap. A lap that was only one tenth faster than knock-out lap-time.
As usual, both Sauber and Williams did not pass to Q2, along with Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso Honda).
Eliminated Drivers in Q1:
16 Sergey Sirotkin 17 Pierre Gasly 18 Lance Stroll 19 Charles Leclerc 20 Marcus Ericsson
Qualifying 2
Like in Q1, in Q2 the top teams went out sooner but this time with soft tires. Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest lap with a lap time of 1:32.286, ahead of Vettel and Ricciardo, while Mercedes was running behind them.
But in the last minutes, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) set the quickest lap with a lap-time of 1:31.914.
Meanwhile, surprisingly Kevin Magnussen (Haas) was eliminated, while both Renault’s and Sergio “Checo” Pérez (Force India) joined Q3.
McLaren had tried a different strategy in order to join Q3. Both drivers helped each other with slipstream, but it did not work out.
Eliminated Drivers in Q2:
11 Kevin Magnussen 12 Esteban Ocon 13 Fernando Alonso 14 Stoffel Vandoorne 15 Brendon Hartley
Qualifying 3
All the drivers except Pérez went out for a first run in Q3. All of them were wearing ultra-soft tires, except Romain Grosjean Haas’s.
Räikkönen was the quickest in the first stint setting a provisional track record with a lap-time of 1:31.200. Finn driver was ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes of Bottas and Hamilton who were half-a-second slower.
In the latest minutes of qualifying, Mercedes drivers did not improve their lap times, with Hamilton entering the pits before the checker flag. So the battle for pole position was all about Ferrari. Räikkönen improved his lap time but, Vettel thanks to an impressive last sector beat his team-mate to set a new track record (1:31.095) and pole position.
Top 10 Results:
1 Sebastian Vettel 2 Kimi Räikkönen 3 Valtteri Bottas 4 Lewis Hamilton 5 Max Verstappen 6 Daniel Ricciardo 7 Nico Hulkenberg 8 Sergio Pérez 9 Carlos Sainz 10 Romain Grosjean