Lewis Hamilton will be on pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race.
The new Ferrari driver set the fastest lap time in Friday sprint qualifying with second-placed Max Verstappen and third-placed Oscar Piastri less than two-hundredths behind.
Informed of what he’d done on team radio, the Brit was in sheer disbelief, saying: “Really?! Hahaha yes! Hahaha! Mega job!”
His surprise was justified too, considering that last weekend on his Ferrari debut in Australia he finished a disappointing tenth.
Speaking after getting out of the car, Hamilton said: “Firstly I want to say thank you to this amazing crowd we have here today.
“I didn’t expect that result but I’m so, so happy and so, so proud.
“Obviously the last race was a disaster for us but clearly we knew there was more performance in the car, we just weren’t able to extract it.
“To come here to a track that I love, Shanghai, a place that I love, and the car really came alive from lap one, so we made some great changes.
“The team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready and I’m a bit in shock, I can’t believe we actually got a pole in the sprint.
“It’s not the main race so we’ve got more work to do tomorrow but this puts us in good stead for the race.”
Asked where he found the extra time, Hamilton said: “I have no idea, I’ll have to go back and look but my first sector was really strong, I think that’s where I made most of my improvement.
“Just little increments through the whole place, there’s still time to find for sure, which I’ll make sure to apply to the next qualifying session for sure, but it’s just amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in a red car, it’s pretty incredible.
“I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain and last weekend it was in the wet, but tomorrow it will be a longish race run and Sunday will be my first dry race run in the car so I’ll be learning.
“I’m hoping that we can hold onto it but McLaren are very, very fast, as is Max, but we’re in a good position, we’ll stay positive and keep our heads high and keep pushing forwards.”
More to follow.
