Qualifying in China

Formula 1: Qualifying in China – LIVE from 9am

Max Verstappen (left) took pole position, Lewis Hamilton only finished 18th.(Bild: APA/AFP/Hector RETAMAL)

Max Verstappen confidently secured pole position for the Chinese GP ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez and Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso. Qualifying was a disaster for Lewis Hamilton - he retired early and only finished in 18th place, while Nico Hülkenberg and Valtteri Bottas surprised everyone with top 10 finishes.

Verstappen was therefore not only able to enjoy a perfect day, but also his fifth pole position in the fifth race of the season. The 26-year-old will start from the front of the grid for the 37th time in total and for the first time in China, where he has yet to win a Grand Prix. 

"After the sprint, we had a bit more knowledge about the car. That paid off in qualifying. I am very happy. The car was good to drive. The last lap felt very good," said Verstappen after qualifying.

The Austrian-British racing team Red Bull celebrated an anniversary with its 100th pole and secured the front row of the grid, as it did two weeks ago in Japan, with Perez (+0.322) in second place. Fernando Alonso (+0.488) was a strong third in the Aston Martin ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Here are the qualifying results:

At the comeback weekend in China, where a Grand Prix is being held for the first time in five years, Verstappen had previously delivered another demonstration of power in the 100 km sprint and celebrated his eighth sprint victory overall.

Debacle for Hamilton
Hamilton finished second in the sprint race. In qualifying, however, the record-breaking world champion made a braking error on his fast lap and will therefore only start Sunday's race from 18th on the grid. Team-mate George Russell also failed to make it past eighth on the grid.

Debacle for Lewis Hamilton! He retired in Q1 and only finished 18th.(Bild: Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

"It can't get any worse"
"We've changed quite a lot compared to the sprint race. Russell (teammate, editor's note) went one way, I went the other. That obviously didn't work well. We have to see what was going on. 18th on the grid is obviously really bad, but it can't get any worse," said a frustrated Hamilton after qualifying.

Sainz caused a red flag
Melbourne winner Sainz made a mistake on the last corner in the second qualifying section, spun on the start-finish straight and caused a red flag. However, the Spaniard was lucky that his car could be repaired.

Sainz crashed in qualifying but got off lightly.(Bild: Screenshot ServusTV)

Nico Hülkenberg and Valtteri Bottas surprisingly made it into the top 10 in qualifying.

Nico Hülkenberg (left) and Valtteri Bottas made it into the top 10.(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/Andres Martinez Casares, APA/GREG BAKER )

For the first time after the 13th sprint race in total, qualifying for the Grand Prix was held a few hours after the shorter showdown.