China - Qualifying

With the sprint done and dusted, but not to be forgotten, the attention moved to the main qualifying session of the weekend. The slate was clean once more and the top positions up for the taking. Who was brave enough to reach out and grab them? 

All the top teams seemed to have the pace to put their foot in the fight for pole, but each saw issues on the horizon. While Hamilton seemed at ease in his scarlet Ferrari, Leclerc once again seemed to struggle with it a bit more. The first time he had managed to set was a good few tenths slower than that of his teammate, and pushed him all the way to the elimination zone. The pressure only increased when his first time set on a fresh set of softs only moved him to 10th. At the same time, Norris saw his first flying lap deleted for exceeding track limits and was left with nothing on the board. Lawson once again struggled to match Verstappen's pace and if he wanted to move onto Q2, he needed to produce a lap much quicker than the ones he had managed thus far. While Leclerc and Norris did find enough speed to move onto the next part of qualifying, Lawson did not. He fell to the very bottom of the elimination zone, where he was joined by Gasly, Bearman, Doohan, and Bortoleto. The elimination was particularly painful for Bearman, who was only out because of an operational error of his team. He didn't cross the start/finish lap in time to begin his last flying lap. 

The two Mercedes were the first ones on track and managed to set a good benchmark time for others to strive for. Matching them wasn't an issue for the McLarens, Verstappen, and the Racing Bull of Tsunoda. Ferrari however, was once again a bit off, having set their times on used tires and hoping that bolting on new ones would bridge the gap between them and the other top cars.  It remained unsure whether they would make it through until the very end, as their best attempts put them at 7th and 8th, with other cars still improving. Antonelli had found himself in a similar, albeit slightly more dangerous situation when, with others still on track, he fell to P9. In the end, all three of them managed to go through to Q3. The same couldn't be said about Ocon, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Stroll, and Sainz. 

Verstappen was the first driver to go out on track in Q3. He managed to set a time that, while decent, wasn't good enough to keep him in the front. Not when Piastri was on pace to score the first pole position i his career. As it often does, the fight would come down to the very last seconds of the session. It seemed that there were only three drivers who could take the pole away from the young Australian: Verstappen, Norris, and Russell. So when Verstappen didn't find the improvement he needed, Norris bailed out from his timed attempt, and Russell only managed to climb up to second, Piastri could take a deep breath. For the first time ever, he will begin Sunday's Grand Prix from the very front of the grid, with Russell right by his side. Norris and Verstappen will begin the race from the second row, with the Ferraris locking out third. 

Now the question is, will Piastri be able to convert the pole into a win? 

Order of the grid:

1. Oscar Piastri

2. George Russell

3. Lando Norris

4. Max Verstappen

5. Lewis Hamilton

6. Charles Leclerc

7. Isac Hadjar

8. Kimi Antonelli

9. Yuki Tsunoda

10. Alex Albon

11. Esteban Ocon

12. Nico Hulkenberg

13. Fernando Alonso

14. Lance Stroll

15. Carlos Sainz

16. Pierre Gasly 

17. Oliver Bearman

18. Jack Doohan

19. Gabriel Bortoleto

20. Liam Lawson