Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Shanghai International Circuit, 2025

Hamilton pips Verstappen to take pole for Ferrari in Shanghai sprint race

Formula 1

21st March 2025, 8:2722nd March 2025, 2:38 | Written by Keith Collantine

Lewis Hamilton claimed a pole position in his second appearance as a Ferrari driver, for the sprint race in Shanghai.

McLaren failed to capitalise on the performance they showed in practice as Max Verstappen claimed second on the grid, just 18 thousandths of a second off Hamilton.

SQ1

Liam Lawson’s tough graduation to Red Bull’s main Formula 1 team continued as he was eliminated in the first round of qualifying for the sprint race. “I’m sorry, I could not get the tyres down,” he told his team after struggling with high tyre temperatures.

Both Alpine drivers also dropped out in the first round. Jack Doohan lost one lap time due to a track limits infringement, yet still managed to out-qualify Pierre Gasly.

Nico Hulkenberg was stunned to learn he’d failed to progress after finishing the session in 19th place. “What?” he exclaimed on his radio. “Oh my god…”

Oliver Bearman brought some cheer to Haas by taking his VF-25 into the second round. Esteban Ocon did his best to follow him, but an error at the final corner left him 18th.

The McLaren drivers set strong laps early in the session but a late flying effort from Hamilton put the Ferrari driver on top. The stewards examined potential impeding incidents involving George Russell, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda but elected to take no action.

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SQ1 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	SF-25	1’31.212
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL39	1’31.396	0.184
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-25	1’31.518	0.306
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL39	1’31.723	0.511
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB21	1’31.916	0.704
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W16	1’31.952	0.740
7	12	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	W16	1’31.999	0.787
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR25	1’32.121	0.909
9	6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT	02	1’32.171	0.959
10	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	VF-25	1’32.269	1.057
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT	02	1’32.316	1.104
12	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR25	1’32.327	1.115
13	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Williams-Mercedes	FW47	1’32.457	1.245
14	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW47	1’32.462	1.250
15	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber-Ferrari	C45	1’32.539	1.327
16	7	Jack Doohan	Alpine-Renault	A525	1’32.575	1.363
17	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A525	1’32.640	1.428
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	VF-25	1’32.651	1.439
19	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	C45	1’32.675	1.463
20	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB21	1’32.729	1.517

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SQ2

Mercedes played a risky game in the second round of qualifying, leaving it until the dying moments for Antonelli and Russell to set their final flying laps. The pair delivered clean laps, however, and secured their progression to the final round with places in the top five.

Those late improvements were bad news for Oliver Bearman, who briefly got his Haas into the top 10, and Alonso, who delivered a strong lap for second earlier in the session. Both found themselves eliminated, Alonso suffering a rare defeat to team mate Lance Stroll, who reached SQ3.

Isack Hadjar made a mistake at the beginning of his final lap, but showed great presence of mind by staying ahead of his team mate and giving him a useful tow down the back straight. That likely made the difference for Tsunoda, who made the cut for the next round by less than three-hundredths of a second.

Alexander Albon went through in seventh while Sainz failed to make the cut. Bortoleto also went no further after his strong performance in SQ1.

Both Ferrari drivers made it through but there was some discontent on Leclerc’s part when he was told to let Hamilton through at one stage. “I’ll do it but we’ve never done that,” he told race engineer Bryan Bozzi, “and I’m a bit in the shit here.”

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SQ2 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL39	1’31.174
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W16	1’31.346	0.172
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL39	1’31.362	0.188
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	SF-25	1’31.384	0.210
5	12	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	W16	1’31.475	0.301
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB21	1’31.521	0.347
7	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW47	1’31.539	0.365
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-25	1’31.561	0.387
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR25	1’31.742	0.568
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT	02	1’31.794	0.620
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR25	1’31.815	0.641
12	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	VF-25	1’31.978	0.804
13	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Williams-Mercedes	FW47	1’32.325	1.151
14	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber-Ferrari	C45	1’32.564	1.390
15	6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT	02	No time

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SQ3

McLaren had looked the hot favourites for pole position in Shanghai but stumbled at the final hurdle.

The team sent the drivers out for two runs on the soft tyres. Piastri’s first effort was solid enough for provisional pole position, but Norris fell short. While Piastri couldn’t improve on his final effort, Norris set the fastest first sector time of any driver, but ran well wide at the turn 14 hairpin and aborted his run.

That left the round one winner only sixth. Hamilton took full advantage, posting a 1’30.849 to claim pole position. Red Bull left Verstappen’s sole run to the very end and he exploited the improving track conditions superbly, coming within two hundredths of a second of snatching pole away from Hamilton. But it was enough to clear the front row of McLarens, leaving Piastri third.

Leclerc took fourth ahead of Russell, bumping Norris back to sixth. Antonelli claimed seventh while Tsunoda came out ahead in the midfield scrap ahead of Albon, much as he had done in Melbourne, with Stroll 10th.

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SQ3 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	SF-25	1’30.849
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB21	1’30.867	0.018
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL39	1’30.929	0.080
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-25	1’31.057	0.208
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W16	1’31.169	0.320
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL39	1’31.393	0.544
7	12	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	W16	1’31.738	0.889
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT	02	1’31.773	0.924
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW47	1’31.852	1.003
10	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR25	1’31.982	1.133

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Keith Collantine

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103 comments on “Hamilton pips Verstappen to take pole for Ferrari in Shanghai sprint race”

David BR (@david-br)
21st March 2025, 8:34

Somewhere in the sky there is a huge dumpster ablaze with all the predictions of imminent domjnation and doom, based on one GP last week. Including Norris’s ‘clear favourites’ comment.
1. erikje (@erikje)
  21st March 2025, 8:38
  
  Somewhat true, but Lando did make two big mistakes on both laps. He was 0.6 slower than. Piastri in the final sector so once he gets that sorted he’ll be right at the front.
  1. Ajaxn
    21st March 2025, 10:10
    
    Yeah well done Ferrari. They qualified 6th & 7th this time last year, so it all bodes well.
    
    That said, this was all about qualifying. I doubt they have the car set up for optimal race performance, so we will see.
    There again you only need one red car for them to be able to change the car’s set up.
    1. Bob
      21st March 2025, 15:34
      
      You know they can change the set up of the car for sunday now.
  2. BasCB (@bascb)
    21st March 2025, 10:39
    
    Yeah, I would say it does show that McLaren do have the best car, and ARE the favourites. But it’s close enough that there is pressure and we’ve seen getting the tyres right makes 4 tenths of difference today so execution is key. Hamilton and Max got it right, Piastri was not quite there and Norris made critical mistakes when it mattered.
    
    Will be interesting, because it’s quite possible that the McLarens will be faster on race pace from about halfway through. But they still need to get by and passing both Max AND Lewis will not be easy for Piastri, Norris is unlikely to even get to them, I guess.
  3. BMW P85 V10
    21st March 2025, 17:58
    
    He’s trying to get that sorted from Miami last year. The predictions on Norris remain the same, as well as his unforced errors.
2. Mooa42
  21st March 2025, 10:16
  
  I think that might be looking at the final results ignoring the underlying details. McLaren ended up 3rd on a ramping track after setting a time within a 100th of a second of pole while carrying 2 out laps and 2 push laps of fuel. Even their second push lap on hot tyres was still competitive. Pretty sure they still have a clear advantage, with the extended drs zone and better tyre wear I still expect them to be 1, 2.
  1. David BR (@david-br)
    21st March 2025, 10:29
    
    Maybe so, I’m just saying it’s far too early to be so definitive (as many have been) about either car performance for the year or driver form. Last year Red Bull collapsed fairly spectacularly, albeit not early enough for MV to lose his advantage from the opening races. I still expect this year to be close, not a McLaren walkover.
  2. HW Small
    21st March 2025, 10:31
    
    Agreed. If I understand what happened correctly, McLaren were the only team to go for two hot laps and that (as demonstrated by Red Bull) was not the optimal approach.
3. S Arkazam
  21st March 2025, 10:48
  
  Somewhere in the sky there is a huge dumpster ablaze with all the predictions of imminent domjnation and doom, based on one GP last week.
  
  I would not be surprised if they are able to extinguish that fire by tomorrow and salvage most of its content.
  
  PS Lawson might be the next driver on that dumpster truck.
4. Coventry Climax
  21st March 2025, 18:25
  
  The biggest prediction, as far as I know, is that Norris might win a championship if he manages to eliminate his mistakes and ups his racecraft.
  That one still stands, methinks.
  
  Qualifying is largely about the driver. For the race other aspects such as car performance and strategy have their share, and the car performance could still help him for the race and take a bit of pressure away from him so he’s less prone to mistakes and less in need of racecraft.
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
21st March 2025, 8:36

He looked like 2020 Lewis out there today.
1. pcxmac (@pcxmac)
  21st March 2025, 21:49
  
  Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. / Laozi
MARKP
21st March 2025, 8:37

McLaren did 2 push laps so 1st lap had more fuel and track nit as good so when track was optimum and they had the same fuel they had more worn tyres. Fine margins. Great a Ferrari is on pole but will be hard to maintain tbat in the sprint race and quali proper will likely be different. In the end I expect McLaren will be very strong for the rest of the weekend and get more points than any other team.
Imre (@f1mre)
21st March 2025, 8:40

The Red Bull 2nd seat is like the Manchester United managerial position. You would think it couldn’t get worse with the next one, but it does.
1. Francesco
  21st March 2025, 9:16
  
  If that happens repeatedly it’s not the quality of the drivers, it’s the quality of the management.
  The issue is that they are still near the front with Max so why change anything if it is working for them?
  Result is they are consistently burning drivers’ careers.
  I would rebrand the Team as Red Max, as he is the only one who can win with their cars.
2. Ferdi
  21st March 2025, 9:37
  
  I reckon the RB is a way more difficult car than we all think and Max is able to extract out of it despite, but the others just can’t. But to me the bigger story is Lewis’ success. What a stellar achievement and how nice for the championship!
3. Ferdi
  21st March 2025, 10:09
  
  I guess the car is way more difficult to drive than we all think. Max just extracts everything from it and is quite good at driving around challenges. But the bigger story today is the stellar performance of Lewis! How nice and how good for the championship, although I fear the McLarens weren’t there because of small driver mistakes.
  1. Ajaxn
    21st March 2025, 10:11
    
    No asymmetric braking to help him round the corners. ;0)
  2. SteveP
    21st March 2025, 10:29
    
    I guess the car is way more difficult to drive than we all think.
    
    That’s the exact opposite of what Max is saying – he reckons it’s easier to drive than last year’s car.
    1. PeteB (@peteb)
      21st March 2025, 11:34
      
      I think it’s becoming more and more apparent that Max likes his car (and therefore, Lawson’s car) to handle in a very specific way. It allows him to extract more time from it but it makes life very difficult for the guy in the 2nd car.
      
      For the guy in the 2nd Red Bull, it’s like being right handed but having to play with left handed golf clubs.
  3. Doh
    21st March 2025, 13:35
    
    The red bull being tricky to drive is a trope. Every car is tricky to drive. I think its more a case of him being paired with rookies and an aging midfielder in Perez. I also believe that Max having always been the the clear no 1 driver gets to have the car more to his liking. No doubt he is a great fast and adaptable driver but the way he drives isn’t suited to most drivers and requires a lot of confidence. I
4. Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
  21st March 2025, 10:50
  
  Haha yep 100% . Equally Lawson must’ve thought he was signing For Man Utd only to find out it was the one after Alex Ferguson left
5. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  21st March 2025, 15:03
  
  @f1mre I’ll take your word for it!
Jere (@jerejj)
21st March 2025, 8:42

I guess Lewis’ championship hopes aren’t over very soon, but what an unexpected outcome.
Red Bull perhaps should’ve promoted Yuki, after all, but honestly, dead last in top-team machinery, with both VCARBs again progressing into Q2.
Doohan was faster than Gasly, so bad news again for Flav, & Bortoleto was again the faster Sauber driver, & Ollie was the faster Haas driver for a change, but standard qualifying could be a different story.
1. Dom (@3dom)
  21st March 2025, 10:59
  
  Red Bull perhaps should’ve promoted Yuki, after all, but honestly, dead last in top-team machinery, with both VCARBs again progressing into Q2.
  
  @jerejj concerning performance to be sure, but it’s still very early days. I’m hoping for his sake that it’s just a case of not having gotten the tyres in the right window, and that we see a significant upturn in form soon.
  1. Jere (@jerejj)
    21st March 2025, 11:22
    
    @3dom I also hope for that.
2. Dane
  21st March 2025, 14:53
  
  If Lawson continues at this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if Red Bull swap Yuki and Liam by the end of the year. What have they got to lose?
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
21st March 2025, 8:56

Possibly not over the hill yet then? People should never write Lewis off too soon. A good performance today. Be great for him and Ferrari if he could repeat it in the main quali. He does seem to relish Shanghai.
1. erikje (@erikje)
  21st March 2025, 9:05
  
  I think he’ll struggle to match the pace tomorrow as this was a combination of a great lap from Hamilton and a McLaren error.
  
  Lando made many mistakes and the strategy of Fast-cool-fast wasn’t the correct one. If McLaren get it right tomorrow then there’s a huge amount of pace for them to find.
  
  I hope I’m wrong but I feel it’ll be a comfortable 1-2 for McLaren.
  1. Stephen Taylor
    21st March 2025, 9:42
    
    @erikje But I think the reason they went for double cool in SQ3 was because they had already used an extra set of soft tyres compared to others in practice.
  2. Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
    21st March 2025, 13:46
    
    I definitely think McLaren will do better second time around.
  3. Dex
    21st March 2025, 15:00
    
    There’s no substitute for experience Lewis and Max will get the maximum from their equipment. Lando, Oscar and Charles are still libel to make errors, particularly if under pressure. McLaren are the fastest cars, but ferrari can soon catch up.
  4. An Sionnach
    21st March 2025, 20:47
    
    Hopefully not, or there won’t be much of a competition this year. If Lando can win from sixth in a sprint, then it’s all over for everyone, including Oscar. Oscar should win tomorrow, but he’ll need to get clear of Max and Lewis early and build a gap in case Lando gets loose.
    
    The hope for the other teams is if what Lando was saying is correct and the car is too hard to handle on this track. In that case we might see that, over a race distance, the drivers simply can’t put consistently fast laps in (and perhaps the McLaren “mistakes” were due to poor drivability of the car).
    
    I’m not sure what will happen with Lewis and Max, and whether they’ll be able to keep Oscar behind. I’ll guess that they won’t feel the need to work together! We might need maximum Lewis and Maximum Max this year to stop the season becoming a McLaren whitewash.
2. Doggy
  21st March 2025, 14:09
  
  McLaren will finish tomorrow and Sunday 1&2 if it’s an straight forward race. And they will win by a big margin.
  
  What we saw earlier is 2 amazing drivers LH and MV performing at their best and McLaren bottle their quali. In the case of lando twice.
3. BenHur
  21st March 2025, 18:22
  
  does seem to relish Shanghai
  
  There used to be a very small gravel tap by the pit lane entrance. Great memories. Hallowed ground.
  1. SteveP
    21st March 2025, 22:38
    
    There used to be a very small gravel tap by the pit lane entrance.
    
    “…what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger” /Nietzsche
MichaelN
21st March 2025, 9:04

Now this is a headline that’ll get me to watch a qualifying Highlights.

Good stuff.
1. Esploratore (@esploratore1)
  21st March 2025, 12:16
  
  Surprised you don’t watch full sessions, especially when there’s good competition\stuff going on, the only time I intended to watch highlights only because I was tired of merc domination was monza 2020, then I saw some catchy headline and ended up watching that too (was when gasly won with toro rosso).
  1. MichaelN
    21st March 2025, 13:50
    
    I don’t care for the format and its coverage, so the the onboard pole lap is usually good enough for me.
    
    But whatever the case, I wanted to get a sense of the vibe and was pleased by the enthusiasm among commentators and fans alike. Vettel was right that everyone is a Ferrari fan.
    1. Coventry Climax
      21st March 2025, 18:35
      
      Sorry to say Vettel was wrong then.
David West
21st March 2025, 9:11

I see Hamilton is washed and should retire immediately. :-)
1. Ajaxn
  21st March 2025, 10:13
  
  LOL. Still life in the ol bulldog ;0)
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
21st March 2025, 9:41

Most F1 Championships ever on the front row of the grid – 11 championships.

Previous record was 9 championships in 2023 at the Hungaroring with also Lewis (7) and Max (then 2) on the front row.
1. David BR (@david-br)
  21st March 2025, 10:32
  
  Nice stats @f1statsfan
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
21st March 2025, 9:52

I don’t think Max crashed into a Ferrari since Kimi left
1. MichaelN
  21st March 2025, 10:21
  
  Might be right. Mostly thanks to Leclerc jumping out of his way numerous times (which he shouldn’t do).
  1. Esploratore (@esploratore1)
    21st March 2025, 12:02
    
    Although it was mostly with vettel he crashed.
    1. SteveP
      21st March 2025, 12:57
      
      The one I’m thinking of (probably @mrboerns too) Max was an innocent sandwich filler between two red cars…
      1. Doggy
        21st March 2025, 14:13
        
        That was a crazy one. I still have clear memories of that. That was worse than the rosberg and ham in Spain.
    2. Coventry Climax
      21st March 2025, 18:38
      
      That sounds like it was never Vettel’s fault, where Vettel was famously known for being unable to correctly estimate the length of his car.
  2. Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
    21st March 2025, 21:12
    
    MichaelN,
    I have to agree with you. At times, Leclerc has been a bit too soft on Verstappen, but apart from Hamilton, he’s the only driver who can truly go toe to toe with Max in wheel to wheel battles. This year, Ferrari can really rattle Verstappen, they just need to get their strategy in order. Vasseur must give Leclerc a clear directive: race Verstappen as aggressively as the rules allow. As for Hamilton… Well no one needs to tell him anything…
    1. Doggy
      21st March 2025, 23:40
      
      Leclerc knows how to race properly (or as you call it: hard), If not ask Checo.
      
      People complain all the time about Drs…but the moment people do proper racing, you see then crying foul.
Charles
21st March 2025, 9:54

Well done, Lewis. To be honest.. It’s the only champion who can compete with the other champion, Max.. true rivals. Looking forward (and hoping) to the returning competition between these two on the race track… and of course on this forum. This is what we all want en hope to see, back to the neverending discussions on race incidents, let’s race!
1. Ajaxn
  21st March 2025, 10:15
  
  This track drew heavily on experience and seat-of-the-pants feeling.
  
  Ferrari has a great car, they just need to match it with great strategy.
  1. BMW P85 V10
    21st March 2025, 20:42
    
    No strategy needed in a sprint race though.
    1. SteveP
      21st March 2025, 22:44
      
      Which is a fortunate bonus for Ferrari – a sad truth.
2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
  21st March 2025, 14:47
  
  It’s the only champion who can compete with the other champion,
  
  The wheel-to-wheel racing under pressure between those two couldn’t be any different as are their racing philosophies. If Hamilton did what Max did he would have 10+ championships but he’d be half the champion he is.
  
  How you win matters.
  1. fawkes
    21st March 2025, 16:23
    
    comment of the day here
  2. Doggy
    21st March 2025, 16:31
    
    Tell that to Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso to see if they agree with you about how Lewis drove
    1. Coventry Climax
      21st March 2025, 18:40
      
      Or Albon, or .. so many others.
      1. Doggy
        21st March 2025, 20:24
        
        Exactly. The reality is that every great driver has done this since Fangio, Clark, Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton, Verstappen, etc. And future ones will have to. That is the nature of the game.
        
        Others have been able to get a championship mainly because their car/team helped them a lot. Like Damon Hill, Button, etc.
3. An Sionnach
  21st March 2025, 21:01
  
  I’m rooting for both Lewis and Max in this one. Man against machine. Like in those seasons when Schumacher had to beat those self-driving cars on foot!
David BR (@david-br)
21st March 2025, 10:34

The signs were there last weekend that Hamilton is getting the feel of the car, not in the overall race speed but in his handling of the car on slicks on a wet surface while others were sliding. Somehow missed by lots of commenters eager to see his demise.
1. Dom (@3dom)
  21st March 2025, 10:55
  
  Agreed @david-br. He seems to have settled in well so far given the limited data points that we have. This seems like a very impressive performance to be on a similar level to (and on this occasion, beating) Leclerc this early on. Obviously early days, but an early suggestion that it’s premature to be saying that he’s lost speed
2. Esploratore (@esploratore1)
  21st March 2025, 12:03
  
  Yes, for example he tended to get closer as quali progressed (talking about australia).
Riccard
21st March 2025, 10:42

What a difference a week makes!

It’s great to see a close contest at the top.
Dom (@3dom)
21st March 2025, 10:49

I heard that he wasn’t fast anymore…
1. Steve (@scbriml)
  21st March 2025, 21:08
  
  @3dom
  
  That Ferrari is a rocketship! ;-)
S Arkazam
21st March 2025, 10:54

And again the Sprint weekend is delivering.
People might not like the Sprint concept (or any change), but the reduced FP opportunities always deliver smaller or bigger surprises.
1. Craig
  21st March 2025, 11:48
  
  Very debatable.
  1. Esploratore (@esploratore1)
    21st March 2025, 12:04
    
    It’s indeed what happened relatively often so far, we’ve had quite a few sprint weekends by now.
    1. Craig
      21st March 2025, 14:41
      
      you can get such surprises from normal race weekends, crediting sprint weekends with this is pretty disingenuous.
      1. S Arkazam
        21st March 2025, 17:18
        
        Only Sprint weekends give (guaranteed) less FP; and that’s one of the main drivers for the more exciting events (quali and races).
        
        And don’t worry; you will not be accused of being disingenuous if you agree with this statement and still passionately oppose the concept of Sprint events ;)
2. Riccard
  21st March 2025, 12:59
  
  Yes, I agree – sprint quali is often less predictable than the full race quali, and the shorter races gives some of those with higher-than-expected placements a fighting chance of holding on to them.
  1. DaveW (@dmw)
    21st March 2025, 18:39
    
    I don’t see any evidence that sprints create more unexpected results or mix up the field in qualifying or the race. The theory that lack of practice will wrong-foot big teams hasn’t played out. Just look at the fact that until today Verstappen took pole for half of all sprint races. And the team to take him under 50 percent is Ferrari.
3. Coventry Climax
  21st March 2025, 18:52
  
  You know what would produce really surprising races?
  
  Teams having to build their cars in isolation, so without any input from their drivers, as they won’t be appointed to teams until 5 minutes before a race. Having rookies do the free practice and qualifying, but blindly, so they do not know whose car they’re actually driving and rotate them over the teams during the season by rolling a pair of dice. Then have the real drivers do the sunday race, based on another rolling of the dice session, and yet another to determine the starting order. Oh, and random sprinklers ofcourse, let’s not forget those.
  
  Now tell me two things please:
  1: What is the definition of ‘delivering’
  2: how does ‘surprise’ relate to having that ‘delivering’ format.
  1. SteveP
    21st March 2025, 20:03
    
    1: What is the definition of ‘delivering’
    2: how does ‘surprise’ relate to having that ‘delivering’ format.
    
    1. Pizza has arrived
    2. Some of them have pineapple in the topping :(
David
21st March 2025, 12:01

I’ve been one of his biggest critics, but that was impressive from Hamilton. To be in the mix on pace so early in the weekend is a complete turnaround from Australia.

Maybe McLaren blew it but that is on them. Lewis was strong throughout the session
1. Esploratore (@esploratore1)
  21st March 2025, 12:05
  
  True, even before q3 he was outperforming leclerc.
2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
  21st March 2025, 14:44
  
  I take it you’re also a huge Roger Feder, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt critic. It happens… :-)
  1. David BR (@david-br)
    21st March 2025, 19:01
    
    @freelittlebirds That made me chuckle!
David West
21st March 2025, 12:05

Oldest pole-sitter (albeit Sprint) since Mansell at Adelaide in 1994.

I think also 6th oldest in history?
1. anon
  21st March 2025, 13:02
  
  David West, as you note, whilst it is with the caveat that it is a sprint race, rather than the main race, it is indeed the case that Hamilton is the oldest driver to be on pole since Mansell in 1994. Additionally, yes, that would make Hamilton the sixth oldest driver to be on pole position for a race.
2. Doggy
  21st March 2025, 14:16
  
  You are right if this was actually a pole qualifying. Yet, this won’t go in the books as such.
  
  Likely this year though.
  1. David BR (@david-br)
    21st March 2025, 17:40
    
    If so, he’ll be even older :)
    1. Doggy
      21st March 2025, 20:25
      
      Touche
Edvaldo
21st March 2025, 13:04

Hamilton was faster than Leclerc this whole session. This is a first.
But the fastest guy out there is Norris. He messed up his first attempt and aborted the second because a Sprint is worth nothing anyway, it would be a different story if it were a qualy for the real race.
1. Dusty
  21st March 2025, 13:25
  
  He aborted the second attempt because he messed it up too. Very Lando Norris of him, but still, lots of pace advantage over the field to finish on the podium in sprint and fight for the win in the real race.
2. Doggy
  21st March 2025, 14:17
  
  Had Lando not Bottled either of his attempts, especially the second, he would have gotten pole by at least .025 over any other driver
  1. MG1982 (@mg1982)
    21st March 2025, 16:21
    
    You probably meant .25, cause .025 ain’t much.
    1. Doggy
      21st March 2025, 16:32
      
      Apologies. That is what I meant. Good catch
Dane
21st March 2025, 14:58

What’s the odds on Christian and Hellmut calling up Perez halfway through the year?
1. SteveP
  21st March 2025, 15:07
  
  What’s the odds on Christian and Hellmut calling up Perez halfway through the year?
  
  Best let Christian do the dialling, Helmut would likely enter a South American dialling code ;)
2. Esploratore (@esploratore1)
  21st March 2025, 19:32
  
  Ahah, would be embarrassing to ask perez after they had to pay him to leave and after his performance; perhaps would make more sense to try ricciardo, since his underperformances lately were at toro rosso, and at red bull he did fine when testing, and was ofc the strongest team mate verstappen had at red bull.
3. An Sionnach
  21st March 2025, 20:50
  
  Hmm… I had thought last year that Red Bull didn’t find any potential Pérez replacement convincing. They should have stuck with him. He might be struggling to get into the top ten, but he’d do as good as his replacements and bring bags of money for the team.
  1. An Sionnach
    21st March 2025, 20:53
    
    That said, Lawson needs some time. If he can’t show something within six races, they could send him back to RB, bring in Pérez and fire Yuki. That would generate even more venom from the anti-Red Bull crowd. They probably can’t do it due to some contract with Honda. Yuki is doing a good job, of course, but he’s still a Honda driver.
Leo B
21st March 2025, 15:15

Lando the team orders Babe.
Piastri really needs to bag this one
joe jopling (@jop452)
21st March 2025, 17:33

Welcome Charles to your team mate Lewis….this will just be the start of being dominated
1. Coventry Climax
  21st March 2025, 18:56
  
  And Ferrari lending a helping hand in the matter, obviously.
  1. An Sionnach
    21st March 2025, 20:59
    
    He wasn’t happy with the swap. Had me think of all the times he said he was excited to be working with Lewis and that they got on well together. These things can happen when your new team mate is one of the best.
    
    In fairness to Lewis, I don’t think the swap is what made the difference. It was his driving. Charles squirmed in the interview and brought up the fact that he struggled here last year, too. Unfortunately, this is a clear comparison of Lewis and Charles as drivers. Leclerc will need to do better.
James Bond (@jamesbond)
21st March 2025, 18:27

Norris still the favourite when Lawson causes a red flag.
1. Esploratore (@esploratore1)
  21st March 2025, 19:33
  
  Indeed, when, not if!