Lewis Hamilton claims Pole Position for the Chinese GP

In qualifying at the Shanghai circuit today, Lewis Hamilton took Pole Position for the Chinese GP ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas in a session that saw the battle between Mercedes and Ferrari carry on from Melbourne two weeks ago.

With barely more than two tenths of a second covered the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers after the first runs in Q2, with Vettel fractionally ahead of Hamilton, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen (who eventually went fastest in that segment by doing a second run when the others didn’t).

But Hamilton moved into the ascendency at the start of Q3, leading Vettel by almost two tenths of a second after the first runs despite running wide out of Turn 3 and suffering a snap of oversteer at the exit of Turn 11.

But then Vettel joined Hamilton in the 1m31s on his own final flying lap, but he failed to improve in sector one and lost out. When informed by Ferrari he had missed pole by two tenths, Vettel reckoned “I didn’t have that” time in the car.

During the session, Sauber unexpectedly got both cars through to Q2, thanks to Antonio Giovinazzi crashing heavily at the final corner just as the chequered flag came out at the end of Q1. This then delayed other drivers who were yet to complete their laps.

Both Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer were then placed under investigation by the FIA, for allegedly failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags at the end of Q1; with both drivers now receiving a five place grid penalty as a result of this.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who claimed Pole Position with a lap time of 1:31.678 ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second place who was 0.186 seconds behind him and ahead of Valtteri Bottas in third place who was 0.187 seconds behind Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen qualified in fourth place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in fifth place, Felipe Massa in sixth place, Nico Hulkenberg in a brilliant seventh place, Sergio Perez in eighth place, Daniil Kvyat in ninth place and Lance Stroll in tenth place.

Carlos Sainz Jr qualified just out of the top ten in eleventh place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in twelfth place, Fernando Alonso in thirteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in fourteenth place and Antonio Giovinazzi in fifteenth place.

As we head further down the grid, Stoffel Vandoorne qualfiied in sixteenth place ahead of Max Verstappen in seventeenth place, Esteban Ocon in eighteenth place, Romain Grosjean in nineteenth place and Jolyon Palmer in twentieth place.

The classification of Qualifying for the Chinese GP is as follows:–

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.31.678
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.186s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 0.187s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 0.462s
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.355s
6. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.829s
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1.902s
8. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.028s
9. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 2.041s
10. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 2.542s
11. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.34.150
12. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 1.34.164
13. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.34.372
14. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.35.046
15. Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber-Ferrari, No Time
16. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 1.35.023
17. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.35.433
18. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 1.35.496
19. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.35.223
20. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1.35.279

Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Chinese GP weekend with our race report alongside the latest news.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa