Piastri roars to maiden F1 pole in China as Lawson flops for Red Bull

Oscar Piastri set a new all-time Chinese Grand Prix lap record as he bagged a maiden F1 pole position ahead of George Russell. 

The McLaren driver set a 1:30.641s to become the 107th different driver to claim pole position in F1 history and the first Australian since Daniel Ricciardo at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix, having improved on his final Q3 lap having already held provisional P1. 

Russell ended just 0.082s slower than Piastri to snare a front-row for Mercedes, with Lando Norris aborting his final Q3 lap, having initially been 0.082s down on Piastri, eventually ending 0.152s slower.

Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull, whilst Sprint race winner Lewis Hamilton took fifth for Ferrari, ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, with Isack Hadjar the best-placed rookie in a strong seventh.

Q3

Piastri initially set the pace to hold provisional pole ahead of Norris, Verstappen and Hamilton, before shaving off 0.062s to set the 1:30.641 that brought him a maiden pole position. 

He is the first new driver to earn a pole since Kevin Magnussen at the 2022 Sao Paulo GP, and will be joined by Russell after a late stormer from the Mercedes bagged him a first front-row of the campaign. 

He split the McLarens after Norris - who was fast but on a knife-edge, aborted his final lap, with many drivers not improving throughout their final laps.

This happened to Verstappen and Hamilton, who take fourth and fifth, respectively, with Hadjar the best-placed rookie with Kimi Antonelli eighth, Yuki Tsunoda ninth and Alex Albon rounding out the top 10 for Williams.

Sainz's Shanghai struggles

Carlos Sainz's struggles to adapt to the Williams continued as he fell in 15th place, and slowest of all, over a second behind segment topper Norris. 

The Spanish racer was two-and-a-half tenths slower than team-mate Albon, who squeaked through in 10th by 0.030s, from Esteban Ocon, who was the first to fall in P11.

He was joined by Nico Hulkenberg in 12th with the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll set to make up the seventh row of the grid in 13th and 14th.

There was a brief worry for Antonelli, who aborted his push lap, reporting the brake "magic is stuck" but the Mercedes team quickly solved the problem to allow him to post a lap good enough for P9 and earn a first Q3 berth in F1.

Up front, Norris set a new absolute all-time track record of Shanghai of a 1:30.787, eclipsing Hamilton's Sprint pole time, as Verstappen and Piastri slotted in behind. 

Lawson dumped in Q1

In Q1, Lawson's weekend went from bad to worse as he qualified slowest of all for the second time in the weekend. 

The Red Bull driver's misery was compounded as Hadjar and Tsunoda took second and third in the segment, whilst he also suffered a brief stewards Investigation for failing to slow for yellow flags after a Jack Doohan spin.

With the track ramping up across the second Q1 runs, every driver aside from Verstappen took to the track once again, with Lawson then failing to improve from the danger zone as his weekend continued to show no signs of improvement. 

Elsewhere, in the flurry of late laps, Ollie Bearman was noted for impeding Lance Stroll as the Haas fell in 17th place with Stroll making it through as Pierre Gasly was the first to fall in 16th place.

They were joined by Doohan in 18th - fresh from picking up two penalty points for a collision with Gabriel Bortoleto in the Sprint - with the Brazilian making it four rookies eliminated in Q1 in 19th.

Up front, Norris - after having a scrappy segment which included one lap deleted for track limits posted the fastest time.