Piastri Claims Maiden F1 Pole For 2025 Chinese GP – Sport Grill

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri clinched a maiden F1 Grand Prix pole position at 2025 Chinese Grand Prix.

Lando Norris dominated the first two segments of Qualifying but Piastri proved too strong in Q3 as he twice set the pace to claim his maiden F1 Grand Prix pole position, with Mercedes’ George Russell unexpectedly splitting the McLaren pair in second place on the grid.

Chinese Sprint winner, Lewis Hamilton could only qualify fifth behind Verstappen who will line up fourth on the grid but ahead of Charles Leclerc, whilst Isack Hadjar qualified a surprise seventh in only his second GP Qualifying session.

Q1

A busy start to Qualifying saw Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll set 1m 33.024 as a benchmark time in the fourth minute, but the times soon tumbled as Verstappen emerged quickest after the opening laps with 1m 31.424 ahead of Piastri.

Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, Jack Doohan and Leclerc found themselves in the elimination zone at the halfway mark, alongside Norris whose time had been deleted due to track limits.

Norris consequently went early for his second run which lifted him up to sixth, whilst others also improved which left Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz in the drop zone alongside Lawson and Doohan with two minutes left on the clock.

At the checkered flag, Gasly failed to survive as he qualified 16th after he fell 0.069 seconds shy of Stroll’s fastest lap, whilst Bearman will line up 17th ahead of Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto, with Lawson again slowest – as he was in Sprint Qualifying – in another early Qualifying exit in his spell at Red Bull.

Norris meanwhile topped the opening segment with 1m 30.983 ahead of Racing Bulls’ Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda.

Q2

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was first on track and set 1m 31.590 as the benchmark time which was quickly displaced by his teammate, George Russell, who posted 1m 31.307, before Piastri displaced him with 1m 31.200.

Piastri however soon found himself displaced by his teammate, as Norris posted 1m 30.787 to set the pace.

Stroll, Ocon, Hadjar, Fernando Alonso and Sainz sat in the elimination zone once all opening laps were completed.

Once the checkered flag fell, Ocon could only qualify 11th as Hulkenberg slipped into the drop zone in 12th position and 0.007s off Ocon’s time, whilst Alonso managed to outqualify Stroll in 13th and 14th respectively.

Sainz couldn’t improve his position on his final run as he qualified 15th for the race in another tough Qualifying session for the Spaniard.

Q3

Verstappen was first out on track but Russell breezed past him and became the lead car on the outlaps as he looked to bridge a gap for two warm-up laps.

Verstappen however was the first driver to lay down a benchmark time of 1m 30.925 but Piastri went 0.222s quicker with 1m 30.703 to go on provisional pole after the opening laps, with Norris 0.090s shy of his teammate in second.

Behind the McLaren pair, Verstappen sat third ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Hadjar, Tsunoda and Albon, whilst Antonelli’s lap time was deleted which left him sat tenth ahead of the final runs.

As the checkered flag fell on Qualifying, Piastri managed to lower his benchmark pole time to a new lap record of 1m 30.641, as Russell unexpectedly joined him on the front row at the expense of Norris, who will line up third ahead of Verstappen.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc qualified fifth and sixth ahead of Hadjar who surprisingly outqualified Antonelli for seventh, whilst Tsunoda and Alex Albon will line up ninth and tenth respectively.

Related