Chinese GP: Oscar Piastri Clinches Maiden F1 Pole As Lewis Hamilton Wins Sprint

 

Hamilton won Ferrari's first China Sprint race victory after setting new lap record in Shanghai Sprint qualifying session on Friday. He later failed to clinch the pole at the qualifying session which Oscar Piastri notched in P1 for his first F1 pole position and behind him was teammate Lando Norris in P3.

"The weather is beautiful here in Shanghai and we have this amazing weekend," said Hamilton. "The first race was difficult and obviously I think...people underestimated the really steep climb it is to get into a new team, to become acclimatised to the team." 

Unlike Norris, Piastri had a contentious Sprint with Max Verstappen who eventually outpaced him to finished the 19-lap race in second while the McLaren driver was third. However, that changed at the qualifying session. Piastri edged Verstappen out of provisional pole to set a benchmark for 1:30.641s. 

George Russell put up a good show for splitting the McLaren who were provisional polling for a one-two frontline position and edged out Norris to get P2. Hamilton made the top five frontline positions behind Verstappen in fifth. 

Piastri had a disappointing season opening race at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne last weekend. Norris won the race in his teammate's home country to get a good headstart for the season.