Lewis Hamilton beats Verstappen as McLaren disappoints in China

SQ3

As the last part of the session got underway, it was Piastri who pipped teammate Norris by 4 tenths, with Russell beating Norris and taking up provisional P2 next to the Australian, and Antonelli wrestled his W16 in the first right hander giving up valuable lap time and taking up P4 momentarily. Lewis Hamilton then stormed to the top of the timesheets beating Piastri by less than a tenth, as teammate Leclerc could only manage P3.

In his second attempt it wasn't enough for Piastri as it was only enough for P2. Max Verstappen then brought his RB21 up to P2 to line up next to Hamilton for tomorrow's sprint race.

SQ2

The Stewards looked at a potential incident where George Russell allegedly impeded Yuki Tsunoda, however as the SQ1 got underway, the investigation was dismissed. Norris came out of the blocks with a flyer, setting each sector a-blaze to come to the line with a 1:31.1, 4 tenths quicker than Max Verstappen’s 1:31.5. Charles Leclerc, like Gabriel Bortoleto, struggled for grip, and Russell struggled for pace with a 1:32.1, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli eeking out his teammate by a tenth and taking P4 in the process ahead of both Ferrari drivers, and his Mercedes teammate.

Both Racing Bulls drivers, as well as the Aston Martin pair and Bearman saved their push laps for the end of the session, which turned out well for them with Tsunoda taking P4, only to be pipped by Stroll later as Leclerc improved only to P5, before he was surprisingly beaten by Alex Albon in his Williams beating Sainz again, who did not see SQ3. Antonelli then improved to P4 and teammate Russell moved up to P2

Eliminated: Alonso, Bearman, Sainz, Bortoleto, Hadjar

SQ1

As the session started, Gabriel Bortoleto took P1, however, the times quickly tumbled with the Brazilian from Sauber being beaten to the top by Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda, Jack Doohan, Pierre Gasly, Isaac Hadjar and Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton then stormed to the top with a 1:32.229, closely followed by his Scuderia teammate, Charles Leclerc, just 10 one thousandths of a second from his teammate.

Lando Norris then came in behind both Ferrari drivers, but his teammate Oscar Piastri went faster by half a second, as out of nowhere, Fernando Alonso beat everyone but McLaren’s Australian driver as he took P2. Norris and Antonelli improved to P1 and P3 respectively. Nico Hulkenberg was again beaten by rookie teammate Bortoleto as Liam Lawson got eliminated in SQ1.

Eliminated: Doohan, Gasly, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Lawson