Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has also secured pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix. The Dutchman beat his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin to qualifying in Shanghai. For Verstappen it was the 37th pole position of his career and the fifth on the fifth race weekend of the season. He gave his team first place on the grid for a Grand Prix for the 100th time.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, experienced a qualifying session to forget: The record world champion, who was second in the sprint a few hours earlier, retired after a mistake in Q1 and will only start from position 18. Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg will start the race on Sunday (9 a.m CEST/Sky) from a respectable ninth place. In the sprint race, the Emmericher only achieved 19th place.
Before qualifying on Saturday, Verstappen had already won the sprint at the Shanghai International Circuit and scored another eight championship points. The Dutchman won clearly ahead of Hamilton and Perez. As a result, Verstappen increased his lead in the World Championship over his Mexican teammate to 15 points.
Shanghai is one of only two tracks in the 2024 racing calendar where Verstappen has not yet won the Grand Prix – which is also due to the fact that the last race took place in the Middle Kingdom in 2019 due to the corona pandemic. At that time, the Dutchman Verstappen was still chasing the long-time winner Hamilton.