There was a sense of surprise in the air after the sprint race of the Chinese Grand Prix, but McLaren, who were heralded as favorites before the season, made sure that wasn't the case.
Q1 brought a real colorful cavalcade, as, with little exaggeration, the entire field turned around in the top 3. McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Racing Bulls led, and finally Lando Norris, Isaac Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda closed this stage in the lead. Pierre Gasly, Ollie Bearman, Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson were neither so lucky nor so fast, and they said goodbye to further struggles. The latter driver is painfully weak, his boss only gave him enough advice before qualifying to avoid social media...
In Q2, things went similarly to the previous stage, after a brief Mercedes flash, McLaren quickly seized the initiative and did not let it go. Once again, Lando Norris was the fastest ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, while Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz and the two Aston Martins were among the names recorded.
After the first fast laps of Q3, we saw the same picture again: the two McLarens in the lead, with Verstappen close behind. At this stage, it was almost clear that the orange team would take pole position, the only question was which driver, with which car. In the end, Oscar Piastri managed to come in first, ahead of George Russell and Lando Norris. It was a very close race, let's hope this excitement continues for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix!
Photo: Motorsportweek / PlanetF1
