Key events
We’ve lost Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan, Ollie Bearman and Pierre Gasly.
Lawson is dead last in qualifying … what a struggle it’s been early in his Red Bull career for the New Zealander.
The drivers are taking chequered flags as this Q1 period comes to a close. We’ll bring you the qualifying standings when they’re all in.
Hamilton has looked rapid all weekend, but made a slight mistake on a corner just now, which lost him some speed. There’s been no messing from his great rival Verstappen so far. He’s clocked the quickest time in Q1 and has headed back for the garage. It feels like this order could change a fair bit though.
Max Verstappen has dipped under Piastri’s qualifying time with Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls both looking fairly quick. Liam Lawson in the other Red Bull is struggling a little at the moment.
Norris still hasn’t clocked a time … it’ll be fascinating to see if he can challenge the top of that leaderboard.
The first qualifying lap times are coming in. Oscar Piastri has clocked a time of just under 1 min 32 secs, which is ever-so slightly ahead of Hamilton. The rest are over that 1 min 32 secs mark, Russell and Kimi Antonelli are third and fourth respectively as it stands. Norris’ lap hasn’t counted as he must have crossed the white lines; Verstappen is finally out there.
Carlos Sainz, now with Williams of course, will be one of the first to clock a qualifying time. George Russell and Max Verstappen aren’t out on the track just yet. Jack Doohan has a problem early doors, by the looks of it.
We are under way. It’s very, very hot in Shanghai but it’s still soft tyres for almost all the drivers in this first qualifying session.
In the constructors’ standings McLaren (35) lead Mercedes (34) by a single point, with Red Bull (24) and Ferrari (17) a little further back. Can any of the other constructors send a message in qualifying? Alpine and Haas are still without a point.
Driver standings after Hamilton wins sprint race
Incredibly, that was Ferrari’s first ever win in a sprint race. Who else but Lewis Hamilton to secure it? Here are the updated driver standings:
Norris – 26
Verstappen – 24
Russell – 20
Antonelli – 14
Albon – 10
Piastri – 9
Hamilton – 9
Stroll – 8
Leclerc – 8
Hulkenberg – 6
Preamble
Morning all and welcome to our coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix. It’s qualifying first up in Shanghai today. But the news we can bring you already is that Lewis Hamilton has his first win in Ferrari red – he led from the front to claim victory in the sprint race, with Oscar Piastri second and Max Verstappen third.
“It is the sprint race not the main one but it is a good stepping stone,” said a beaming Hamilton, who revealed his team had made some changes to their car this weekend. He may be 40 but he’s still making waves in this sport, now in that iconic Italian car.
It will be fascinating to see whether Hamilton can keep that kind of pace up when qualifying begins later this morning. Lando Norris will have hopes of building on his win in last week’s Australian GP curtain-raiser with the signs also good for fellow McLaren driver Piastri. It’s been a stuttering start to the season for Verstappen and Red Bull, so they’ll be keen to lay down some kind of marker.
Let’s do this. Qualifying begins shortly.
