Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) will go on Saturday at the top of the Sprint race of the Formula 1 China Grand Prix, second round of the season, after having succeeded in qualifying this Friday on the Shanghai circuit.
On the Shanghai layout bathed by the sun and well -stocked stands, the seven -time world champion has only ahead of 18 thousandths of the title and winner last year MAX Verstappen (Red Bull), 2nd.
“I am a little stunned,” reacted Hamilton, acclaimed by the public for his second weekend of race with the Scuderia. I did not expect this result, but I am very happy and proud.
And for good reason: the first McLaren, which was expected before, will only start third, with Oscar Piastri, in front of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), fourth.
The other McLaren, that of the leader in the Lando Norris championship, will only be sixth, the fault of a driving error at the very end of qualifying. The Briton will leave behind his compatriot George Russell (Mercedes), fifth.
The great hope Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who succeeds Hamilton at Mercedes for his first F1 season, will leave seventh.
The first of the six sprints
A little more than 100 km long swallowed in around thirty minutes, the Sprint race offers points in the championship: eight points for the first to a point for the eighth.
The GP of China is the first of the six rounds of the year to offer a sprint format, which changes the weekend’s progress.
Thus, the pilots only carry out only free test session on Friday before the qualifications that determine the Sprint race grid the next day. After this race, the pilots will compete in the classic qualifications, which will determine the starting grid of the Sunday GP.
