This is the provisional sprint race starting grid for the Chinese GP
F1 News
Sprint qualifying gave us a familiar front-row lockout, but one that was familiar back in 2021. This time, in 2025, it was a far more surprising result, seeing Hamilton take his first pole position for Ferrari in just his second race, while a brilliant Verstappen performance meant he was just +0.018 away from the Brit
If the only free practice session of the weekend was anything to go by, it looked like Lando Norris and McLare would be the ones dominant proceedings, finishing five-tenths clear of the rest of the field in FP1. However, it was his teammate Oscar Piastri who qualified best of the papaya-coloured cars, rounding out the top three.
Behind the Australian was the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, while Geoge Russell also finished ahead of Norris, taking fifth place to back up his finr podium finish of P3 at the Australian Grand Prix to start the 2025 season.
Norris aborted his final lap in SQ3, meaning he was only able to set the sixth fastest time of the final session, forcing him to fight his way through the field in the upcoming sprint race than was originally thought.
Behind him was the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, while Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll all had great sprint qualifying sessions to get into the top ten and finish in P8, P9 and P10, respectively. For Liam Lawson, his tough start to lie in Red Bull continues, finishing dead last, meaning he will start the sprint race from P20.
Of course, this is only a provisional grid, so any penalties that could occur before the sprint race gets underway will shake the grid up, with that opening up the on-track action in Shanghai at 03:00 UK time.
This is the provisional grid for the sprint race
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