Lewis Hamilton wins sprint pole position in China days after a disappointing F1 debut for Ferrari

SHANGHAI (AP) — Lewis Hamilton surprised the crowd and himself by securing his first sprint pole position for Ferrari in the final moments of qualifying Friday at the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Hamilton arrived in Shanghai after his disappointing season-opening race last weekend in Australia, where he finished 10th in his first race for Ferrari. He only managed fourth fastest in opening practice here for a modest improvement on that.

He topped the first section of sprint qualifying for the season, before the dominant McLaren of Lando Norris took over in SQ2. An aborted lap from the McLaren driver, following a mistake on his final lap, handed Hamilton his chance – and the seven-time world champion took it in stunning style with less than a minute remaining.

“I’m just a bit gobsmacked, honestly, I’m a bit taken back by it,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t know when we would get to this position. Even though it’s not the main pole that gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow to find more performance and see if we can compete again.”

Hamilton's time was just 18 thousandths of a second ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri third. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, with Mercedes’ George Russell closing out the top five.

Verstappen said he was pleased with second place after also benefiting from Norris' mishap.

“I do think in the first practice we were quite a bit off, and so I’m very happy to be on the front row, honestly," Verstappen said.

Piastri questioned McLaren's decision to go out early in the third qualifying session even though the team had been comfortably fastest up until then.

“We tried something a bit different and went out much earlier and tried two laps, which I’m not sure was the best thing in the end," Piastri said. "But I think it’s something we need to look at. The pace in the car is still very strong, and I’m confident to fight from third tomorrow.”

Norris, who won the Australian GP ahead of Verstappen, will start the sprint race from sixth on the grid and looked distraught at the end of the session.

“I made a mistake, I locked-up at the last corner,” Norris said. “But, yeah, we just struggled a bit more now, just not quick enough simply. But, yeah, just our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with showed a lot more today. So nothing more than that, honestly. Just too many mistakes, (and) just too difficult of a car to drive.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth and Mercedes’ George Russell closed out the top five, two spots ahead of his rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Red Bull’s Liam Lawson exited in the first qualifying session, just as in Australia.

“On just my second lap, I went off,” Lawson said. “It’s obviously a shame. I think from a starting point, it wasn’t too bad, the first lap was alright. And then we were just looking to build on that. But, we stayed out to try and cool the tires on track, and to be honest I really struggled to get the temperatures down starting the second lap.”

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AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one