Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying: F1 Team & Driver Quotes

On Friday, in Sprint Qualifying, Hamilton clocked a 1:30.849 – the fastest lap ever recorded at the track – to lead the front row for Saturday’s Sprint race. It marks the seven-time world champion’s first pole of any kind since joining Ferrari from Mercedes ahead of the 2025 season.

Verstappen will line up alongside Hamilton, while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri secured third ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari. George Russell qualified P5 for Mercedes, just ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who currently leads the championship after his win in Melbourne.

The Chinese Grand Prix marks Round 2 of the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship and hosts the first Sprint race of the season, with the main Grand Prix to follow on Sunday. Below is what the F1 teams and drivers had to say after Sprint Race Qualifying.

Team Report: "Lewis Hamilton produced a masterful lap to set the fastest time in Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc will start from the second row of the Shanghai International Circuit grid, having qualified fourth, for the 19 lap race that starts at 11 (4 CET) tomorrow. This is Hamilton’s second Sprint pole, as it is for Scuderia Ferrari HP who last started from the top slot courtesy of Leclerc in Baku in 2021. So the team is hoping for plenty of points to start the Chinese weekend."

P1. Lewis Hamilton: "It was mega! Really happy with the result. We knew there was more in the car after Australia, and here, it just came alive from lap one. The team’s done a great job since Melbourne.
Pole for the Sprint Race is a great place to be, but there’s still work to do. I’ve not done a proper race run in the dry yet, so tomorrow will be a real test. The other teams will be quick, but we’re in the fight and will keep pushing."

P4. Charles Leclerc: "We didn’t put it all together today. Our main challenge was in turns 1 to 3 and apart from that everything was quite tight, so we will see where we stand tomorrow. It’s not ideal to start the Sprint Race from P4, but I will give it my all to fight my way to the front. Our main focus around here will be on tyres, and then we will see what’s possible in Qualifying ahead of Sunday’s race."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "We are clearly happy with this afternoon’s result. After a difficult qualifying last week in Australia, today’s performance is a boost for the whole team and is definitely very positive, also for Lewis who has been quick throughout the whole day, quickest in SQ1 too. Charles was also competitive and with both cars on the front two rows we can aim to bring home plenty of points tomorrow. Clearly the McLarens have great pace both on a single lap and over a longer run. We must remain focused and plan how to execute the race down to the smallest detail as tomorrow’s Sprint will provide useful information for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

P2. Max Verstappen: “I’m very happy with my performance today. I think that in the first practice session we were quite a bit off so I’m really pleased with being on the front row. The lap was very good: it is always very tough to go from a medium to a soft tyre, so to nail the lap with no references was great for us. Of course, when you look at it, we were incredibly close off pole so I am very happy to be second. I don’t think we should have been on the front row and we didn’t make any dramatic changes in the set up. We kept trying to maximise everything that we had, especially when we were struggling a bit more for pace. This is good for us and a little motivation boost. The McLarens looked fast up until the last run so it will be hard to keep them behind during the Sprint but hopefully it will be fun."

P20. Liam Lawson: “On my second lap I went off and it is obviously a shame. I am disappointed because we started ok and it’s a shame to miss out on SQ2 for a small mistake. From a starting point it wasn’t too bad, and we were looking to build in the session from there. We stayed out to try and cool the tyres on track and to be honest, I really struggled to get the temperatures down to start my second lap. We started too hot and through the lap I struggled, it is really frustrating. Our pace was there and indicates we should be a lot further up than we are. We have tomorrow’s Sprint to try and learn some stuff and we want to do a better job in quali, to put the car where is should be."

P3. Oscar Piastri: "Overall, a positive first day on track in China. SQ1 and SQ2 felt good, we just couldn’t get the pace out of the car in SQ3. It's been challenging at times adapting to the track’s new surface, the grip's been a lot better than last season which is nice, but it's very peaky. It was tough to keep on top of the car at times, but the team did a good job of taming it for Sprint Quali. The pace in the car is still very strong and I'm confident I can fight for a higher finish from third in tomorrow’s Sprint."

P6. Lando Norris: "A frustrating Sprint Qualifying. I struggled with the car today at times and the conditions made it challenging. I pushed a bit too hard on my final lap which has put me lower in the order than we wanted. Overall, the car is still in a good window so there's a lot we can take from today’s sessions. We’ll now focus on working hard overnight as a team to get ready to go again tomorrow and score strong points."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: “Our first day back here in China ends with a somewhat disappointing result in Sprint Qualifying. During Free Practice we managed to work through our run plan well, completing a lot of important items as we head into this Sprint weekend. However, we struggled to put perfect laps together in SQ3 today, and thus we were not able to capitalise on the good pace of the car. This serves as a reminder of the competitive nature of this field, where not fully extracting performance can cost us several grid positions. We now have the chance to use the information available to maximise the pace in the car, ensuring we are prepared starting from the Sprint tomorrow.”

Team Report: "George Russell will start Saturday's F1 Sprint in Shanghai P5 with team-mate Kimi Antonelli P7. Getting the tyres in the right window would prove key across both mandated compounds in Sprint Qualifying; the Medium tyres for SQ1 and SQ2, and the Soft for SQ3. Both George and Kimi employed a preparation lap on the Medium tyre, with their best efforts coming at the end of both segments. They dropped the preparation lap for SQ3, completing one push effort. George, in an incredibly tight end, finishing P5 despite only being a few tenths from pole, with Kimi P7."

P5: George Russell: "It was tricky to extract the maximum from the tyres across Sprint Qualifying; one moment in SQ2 we were outside the top 10 and the next we were second, even though both laps felt similar. That shows how small the gaps were out there today, but I think P5 is probably a fair result. I was pretty happy with my lap in SQ3 and it's not a bad place to start. It's always tough to nail Sprint Qualifying having had so little laps on track in the only hour of practice, so we can be pleased with our efforts. Let's see what happens tomorrow in both the Sprint and Qualifying. It was a surprise to see the McLarens struggle a little more in SQ3 and we have four different teams in the top five. We've definitely got the chance to move forward in the Sprint and challenge those ahead, so hopefully that is what we can do.

P7. Kimi Antonelli: "I was feeling good with the car throughout Sprint Qualifying. My SQ2 lap was particularly strong, and I was hoping to build on that for SQ3. On the Soft compound though, I struggled in the first sector. The tyres were too cold, and I think we didn't quite get the warm-up right on the out lap. The upside is that it was a better Qualifying session than Melbourne and I continue to build my learning. Let's see what we can do tomorrow now. Starting P7 leaves us with work to do but I've felt comfortable and confident in the car today. My pace on the Medium tyre was particularly good so hopefully that translates into the rest of the weekend across all compounds."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: "Going into Sprint Qualifying we were still building our understanding of exactly what to do with the Medium tyre. It seemed to be getting better on the second lap, but others were clearly able to extract the time on the first lap better than ourselves. By the end of SQ2, both drivers had set solid times; the McLarens were looking strong but we looked to be in a tight bunch behind him. For the final run in SQ3, we chose to go early following McLaren out of the pit lane. George did a reasonable lap but never felt like he had the necessary grip from the Soft tyre to challenge for pole. Kimi lacked grip in the first sector meanwhile and the sliding through the tricky first few cost him around the rest of the lap. The positive is that he is still in the mix from P7 and making it into the third segment of Qualifying continues to build his learning. With the benefit of perfect hindsight we'd have gone at the end as the track looked to improve a little, but it still looks like the others are getting a bit more out of the new softs. We've got a bit of time to try and understand that ahead of main qualifying tomorrow."

P10. Lance Stroll: "Sprint Qualifying was a strong session for us today, and I'm happy to have made it to SQ3. We decided to run used softs throughout SQ3 to save tyres for Qualifying tomorrow, so it's still hard to gauge how we compare to those around us, especially with how tight the midfield is. We will continue to look at how we can improve for the rest of the weekend."

P11. Fernando Alonso: "I am quite happy with Sprint Qualifying today as the car felt quite competitive. SQ1 went very well for me and in our first push lap we managed to finish second. I just missed out on the top ten in the end, but it's good that we got one car into SQ3. It's clearly very close in the midfield and let's see what we can do in the Sprint. Our main focus is still very much on Qualifying and the main race, but tomorrow's Sprint gives us another opportunity to try score some points."

P8. Yuki Tsunoda: “I’m happy with the result obviously and how it came out. We could have done a couple of things better in terms of set up, it didn’t feel 100% and we weren’t able to extract the performance of the car, we’ll have to look through it, but yeah, I’m very happy. It was a shame for Isack, but at the same time he gave a nice tow to me in SQ2, that helped, so thank you to him, it was a good team effort. Let’s see tomorrow!”

P15. Isack Hadjar: "In SQ1 I felt very good and strong in the car, and we were quite close to the top guys. After that, I knew I had to put a good lap in SQ2 to get through to SQ3, but unfortunately, I overdid it and I had to abort the lap. I think everyone out there is struggling here, as it’s a tough track for the tyres on the entry phase and they just overheat throughout the corner. It’s a shame as it seems we have a decent car, but it’s still training and we’ll understand what went wrong today ahead of tomorrow’s Sprint and Qualifying.”

Alan Permane Racing Director: “A good day here today. A little bit of a shame for Isack, who on his SQ2 run caught a gust of wind between turn 1 and 2 and lost the car a little bit. But I think we can take some satisfaction that he was quick, very quick in SQ1. This leaves him in very good shape for qualifying tomorrow. Of course, huge congratulations to Yuki making it to the top 10 again, second weekend in a row. We're especially happy, as this is a very different circuit to Melbourne, and it validates our car pace at another track. We look forward to the Sprint tomorrow morning, but more so we look forward to qualifying well for the main race tomorrow afternoon.”

P17. Pierre Gasly: “It’s a frustrating outcome today and I am disappointed for the whole team with the result to be out in SQ1. The car felt good, it had pace and we just had some traffic at the start of our push lap, which cost us some lap time. These fine margins can be very costly as has been the case today. We made good progress between Free Practice 1 and SQ1 and I really feel we should be fighting for SQ3 as it is very close amongst a number of cars in the midfield. Tomorrow, we will give it everything and just try to maximise what we can. It will be hard to make progress in the Sprint Race but we will give it our best and really focus on getting it right in Qualifying when it all counts. I am confident we can put it in the mix tomorrow and we will stay positive and aim to do just that.”

P16. Jack Doohan: “It was clearly not the result we wanted today but I am pleased with how the car felt. In the end, a combination of factors fed into the frustrating outcome in Sprint Qualifying, particularly traffic on track during the push lap, but we will keep our heads down and aim to maximise what we can from the Sprint Race in the morning. Fortunately, I completed the majority of our run plan in Free Practice 1 before the issue on track and it was important to get up to speed at this track in F1 machinery, especially with the new track surface, which provided plenty of grip. The car felt good across the day so we will look into the data and see what we can improve tomorrow in Qualifying and hopefully put ourselves in a much better position for the Grand Prix.”

Dave Greenwood, Racing Director: “Looking at the timesheets after the session and having both cars out in SQ1 isn’t a fair reflection of where we are with the performance of the car this weekend. Both Pierre and Jack had traffic on their final flying laps, which cost them a lot of lap time. With only one hour of practice, we managed to make some positive steps forward with the balance and set-up between sessions. The team also did a great job to turn around Jack’s car after stopping on track with a technical issue this morning. With our starting positions, it puts us slightly on the back foot for the Sprint tomorrow, however we will try to make progress up the field and see where we end up.”

Team Report: Sauber began the Chinese Grand Prix weekend with a productive Friday, completing a smooth Free Practice session followed by the first Sprint Qualifying of the season. Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto went through their scheduled run plans during practice, focusing on data collection and initial setup work for the Shanghai International Circuit. In the afternoon’s Sprint Qualifying, Gabriel progressed into SQ2 and secured P14 for tomorrow’s Sprint, while Nico was unable to improve on his final lap in SQ1 and will line up in P19.

Beat Zehnder, Director: “Gabriel did a good job in the only practice session, learning a track he had never raced on before and making steady improvements throughout the session, as well as in SQ1. It was a really good step for him, and a good performance today. Nico was also looking strong, confirming his promising practice showing, and was on course to progress, but we weren’t able to keep up the same performance in the final sector, when the tyres became a bit too hot, and the couple of tenths he lost were enough not to make the cut. It’s very tight out there and this result shows just how every detail has to be there if you want to achieve a good result. We will now prepare for tomorrow’s Sprint, as well as make use of the knowledge we gained today to prepare the main Qualifying session.”

P19. Nico Hulkenberg: "Unfortunately, it was a short Sprint Qualifying session for me. I think the first lap looked promising, but on the second run, many drivers managed to improve their lap times, whereas we didn't. We'll need to look into the data to understand what happened and how we can make further gains. This morning in free practice my lap looked pretty competitive, but for some reason, we weren’t able to replicate that performance in this afternoon’s session."

P14. Gabriel Bortoleto: "It’s been an encouraging start to the weekend, and a solid sprint qualifying session overall. SQ1 went well, and in SQ2, I gave it everything, but closing the six-tenths gap to SQ3 was always going to be a challenge – I am still satisfied with the result we brought home. The windy conditions made it tricky at times, but overall, I’m happy with the progress made throughout the day. Now, the focus shifts on tomorrow, with the Sprint, first, and the main qualifying; we’ll keep pushing to make the most of every opportunity."

Team Report: "Haas F1 Team drivers Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon qualified 12th and 18th respectively for the first Sprint race of the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the Chinese Grand Prix. SQ1 proved to be a tale of mixed fortunes for Bearman and Ocon – with Bearman progressing into SQ2 courtesy of a flying second lap on the mandatory Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tire. The British rookie clocked a 1:32.269 to advance in his VF-25. Ocon’s first charging lap was a 1:33.774, which he bettered on his second run – a 1:32.651, but it wasn’t quick enough to see the Frenchman graduate out of SQ1. Bearman opted for one fast stint in SQ2 – again the medium tire compound mandatory. A 1:31.978 initially had the 19-year-old hovering inside the top 10 but ended up netting out at P12."

P12. Ollie Bearman: “I’m happy with the feeling underneath me today. From the first lap in FP1 I knew it would be a bit of a better weekend than we had in Melbourne. I felt comfortable with the car straight away, which is always a nice start to the weekend – and we managed to show a bit of pace out there today. I was still building up to the track, there’s quite a few long unique corners at this track which are tough to get your head around in such a short time. There’s definitely more time to be found, I think we could have had SQ3 in the car today.”

P18. Esteban Ocon: “It’s for sure disappointing to be knocked out, but I think there are positives as obviously Ollie got up there and we look to be more in the mix than we were in Melbourne. We’ve definitely found some pace as a team, and that’s very positive. On my side we need to look at what went wrong in this short session. So, we have to dig, but overall – much better than Melbourne.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: “As a team, I’m very happy with everyone and how we’ve made progress since coming from Melbourne – which was obviously an incredibly difficult weekend. What I’m really happy about is that everyone’s worked together and tackled problems head on. Today’s FP1 program, across both cars, was very well defined and executed. We are honestly learning every single time we’re going out on track. Ollie did a good job today. He came back from a very difficult weekend in Australia and he hasn’t put a foot wrong today – it was a great effort by him in both SQ1 and SQ2. With Esteban, we have some doubt on his car spec, so we’re investigating that. Again though, his feedback has been really, really good. It’s been a very positive day.”