Oscar Piastri Claims Historic First F1 Pole Position in Shanghai
Oscar Piastri scored his first Formula 1 grand prix pole position with a dominant qualifying performance at the Chinese Grand Prix, setting a new track record of 1m30.641s at the Shanghai International Circuit.
The McLaren driver delivered two pole-worthy laps in Q3, surpassing Lewis Hamilton's previous best time from Sprint qualifying. Despite describing his laps as "slightly scruffy," Piastri's performance saw the car and driver "come alive" during the final session.
George Russell secured second place, just 0.082s behind Piastri, with a late-improving lap that he described as "awesome" after one of his most challenging qualifying sessions. Lando Norris completed the top three, finishing 0.152s off his teammate's pace.
McLaren Formula 1 car racing
The qualifying order continued with:
- Max Verstappen: 4th (+0.176s)
- Lewis Hamilton: 5th (+0.286s)
- Charles Leclerc: 6th (+0.38s)
- Isack Hadjar: 7th (+0.438s)
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli: 8th
- Yuki Tsunoda: 9th
- Alex Albon: 10th
Notable performances included Racing Bulls rookie Hadjar impressing in seventh and Mercedes newcomer Antonelli making Q3. Further down the field, Esteban Ocon narrowly missed Q3 in 11th, while Red Bull's Liam Lawson qualified last, 0.75s behind teammate Verstappen.
F1 race timing results chart