Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying

F1 Qualifying Results: Lap record SMASHED as Oscar Piastri takes first ever pole

Chris Deeley Saturday 22 March 2025 09:11 Updated: 17:03

The Shanghai International Circuit lap record was broken for the second time in as many days on Saturday, as Oscar Piastri took his first ever Formula 1 pole position.

McLaren were denied a front row lockout by a brilliant late lap from George Russell though, the Mercedes driver splitting the papaya cars at the death.

Liam Lawson's disastrous start to his Red Bull career has continued, qualifying slowest of all 20 drivers for the second time in as many days.

The New Zealander fought back up to 14th in Saturday morning's sprint race, spiking some hope of a revival in qualifying for Sunday's feature race, but the afternoon went off the rails once again.

Jack Doohan's prospects of keeping his Alpine seat ahead of highly touted prospect Franco Colapinto were delivered another blow by his own hands, spinning off the track to damage his chances of getting a good banker lap in, and qualifying just 18th.

F1 Qualifying Results: Chinese Grand Prix 2025

Position	Driver	Team	Time / Gap
1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:30.641 sec
2	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.082 sec
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.152 sec
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.176 sec
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.286 sec
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.380 sec
7	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+0.438 sec
8	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+0.462 sec
9	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	+0.997 sec
10	Alex Albon	Williams	+1.065 sec

ELIMINATED IN Q2

Position	Driver	Team
11	Esteban Ocon	Haas
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber
13	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
14	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
15	Carlos Sainz	Williams

ELIMINATED IN Q1

Position	Driver	Team
16	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
17	Ollie Bearman	Haas
18	Jack Doohan	Alpine
19	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber
20	Liam Lawson	Red Bull

How does F1 Qualifying work?

The qualifying session is split into three finite windows, which provide a dramatic prelude to Sunday's race.

The bottom five drivers are eliminated at the end of Q1, with a further five eliminated after Q2.

Then, Q3 gives us a shootout between the remaining 10 drivers in the battle for positions at the front of the grid.

Red Bull Mercedes Ferrari McLaren Carlos Sainz George Russell

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F1 Qualifying Results: Lap record SMASHED as Oscar Piastri takes first ever pole

F1 Qualifying Results: Lap record SMASHED as Oscar Piastri takes first ever pole