Max Verstappen hoped until the last moment but was unable to put his Red Bull on pole position for the Chinese GP. The four-time world champion had to settle for fourth place, conceding to the power of Oscar Piastri and his McLaren, as the Australian claimed his first-ever pole position.
Also surprising was George Russell’s Mercedes, which secured second place on the grid. Lando Norris only managed third, already admitting to his mistakes in his decisive qualifying lap.
After the Sprint Race, which saw Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari take victory, Max Verstappen has had to take a step back at the Shanghai circuit, realizing that this Red Bull is not as competitive.
Oscar Piastri dominated Q3, setting a new track record with a 1:30.641 lap. Behind him, George Russell was 0.082 seconds adrift, while the gap between the Dutchman and pole position was 0.176 seconds. In post-qualifying interviews, the Red Bull driver shared his assessment of the team’s race pace. However, to have a chance at winning, he admitted he would need some luck.
“Only if those ahead of me retire,” he joked to Sky Sports F1, revealing his ‘plan.’ “We are not fast enough,” he then said seriously.
“I think the lap was good, but it was just very difficult to fine-tune the car to have, let’s say, a consistent balance through every lap and every corner. So it was tough, but we are working on it,” he stated. Max Verstappen remained optimistic, concluding with, “We’ll try to do our best” ahead of tomorrow’s race.” – the Dutchman said at the end of the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
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