George Russell leads Mercedes one-two in China GP sprint qualifying

SHANGHAI – Championship pacesetter George Russell savoured an “amazing feeling” as he took pole position on March 13 for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, leading a Mercedes one-two ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli.

The 28-year-old Briton clocked 1min 31.520sec around the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit, 0.289sec quicker than Antonelli, with world champion Lando Norris 0.621sec behind his fellow Englishman in third.

Antonelli was investigated after the session for allegedly impeding Norris, but he was cleared and will retain second spot.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, winner of the China sprint in 2025, qualified fourth for the 19-lap race on March 14, 0.641sec slower than Russell.

“The car’s been feeling amazing,” said Russell, who leads the championship after winning the season-opening race in Australia on March 8.

“We knew after Melbourne we had a really good car.

“The engine’s performing really well. And today it was a real joy to drive, so I’m happy.

“Since Melbourne, everything we have been working on is just trying to get off the line better. I think we have found some improvements. Melbourne was obviously dicier in the opening laps than we would have liked.

“I guess we’ll find out in the morning (what it’s like here).”

The McLarens left it until late in the final qualifying session to go out for their single flying lap, hoping to take advantage of the track at its quickest.

It paid off as Norris got ahead of the two Ferraris and Australian Oscar Piastri split them, coming in fifth fastest.

“I’m just happy with the result,” said Norris, 26. 

“I’ve not seen what I’ve lost or gained or whatever (in energy deployment). P3 is as good as we can be for the time being.

“Actually pretty happy to beat both of the Ferraris today because they seem pretty good the whole day. Satisfied, good position for tomorrow.”

The 41-year-old Hamilton also said that he was “really pleased with the session”.

“My engineers did a fantastic job to turn the car around because P1 was a tricky session,” he said.

“The car generally felt great. Just I think we’re losing on the straights – that’s a lot of time to be losing.

“We have a lot of work to do. We really have to push so hard back in Maranello to improve on power.

“The car feels great and I think we can compete with them (Mercedes) through corners, but when you are down on power, it’s just the way it is.”

Charles Leclerc, third in Melbourne, was sixth fastest in the other Ferrari. Pierre Gasly in his Alpine qualified seventh.

The Red Bulls struggled for pace again with their new in-house power units replacing Honda as engine supplier from this season and getting to grips with the new era regulations.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was eighth, a colossal 1.734sec adrift of Russell, and Isack Hadjar was only 10th behind the Haas of Oliver Bearman.

“Tough one, a lot to learn,” said team principal Laurent Mekies.

“The weekend is still long; we need to learn from (sprint qualifying). Let’s try again.”

Sergio Perez did not take part in the session because of a fuel issue with his Cadillac, the new team on the grid for 2026.

Teams had only a single practice session earlier in the day to hone their set-ups in Shanghai, which is a very different track to Melbourne.

Shanghai has one long straight and several complexes of turns requiring a different approach to battery deployment and energy harvesting in the new cars, which have a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.

Russell also dominated in practice, topping the time sheets throughout on medium and soft tyre compounds, clocking 1min 32.741sec to head yet another Mercedes one-two.

Norris was 0.555sec behind in third, with his teammate Piastri next.

Fifth and sixth were the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton respectively.

They had been sporting an innovative flip rear wing in practice, but the Scuderia ditched it for qualifying. AFP, REUTERS