Russell takes Sprint pole in China as Mercedes lock front row
George Russell secured pole position in Sprint Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, leading a dominant performance for Mercedes as teammate Kimi Antonelli completed a front-row lockout in Shanghai.
Russell topped every session on Friday, first leading the only practice session of the day before setting the fastest time in all three segments of Sprint Qualifying, News.Az reports, citing Formula 1.
The British driver delivered a lap of 1:31.520 in SQ3, finishing nearly three-tenths ahead of Antonelli, who will start second after stewards cleared him of an earlier investigation involving McLaren’s Lando Norris.
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Reigning world champion Lando Norris qualified third but was more than six-tenths slower than Russell’s leading time.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton secured fourth place, splitting the McLaren pair and finishing just ahead of Oscar Piastri in fifth.
Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc ended the session sixth, roughly one second off Russell’s pace.
Behind the Ferrari driver, Pierre Gasly placed seventh for Alpine, while Max Verstappen could only manage eighth for Red Bull after struggling with grip during the session.
The top ten was completed by Ollie Bearman for Haas and Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar.
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg narrowly missed reaching the final qualifying segment and will start the 19-lap Sprint race from 11th.
He will be joined on the grid by Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Arvid Lindblad, and Franco Colapinto, who filled positions 12 through 16.
Both Williams drivers, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, were eliminated in the opening segment of Sprint Qualifying.
The Aston Martin duo, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, also failed to progress past the first stage.
Meanwhile, Cadillac locked out the final row of the grid. Valtteri Bottas finished ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, who was unable to record a lap time due to a fuel system issue.
With only one practice session before Sprint Qualifying, teams had limited time to prepare their setups at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Russell quickly set the pace early in the session and maintained control throughout qualifying.
In the final SQ3 shootout, both Mercedes drivers used soft tyres, but neither improved on their first flying laps.
Russell’s benchmark remained unbeaten, sealing Sprint pole position and a front-row Mercedes lockout heading into Saturday’s Sprint race.
The result marks one of Mercedes’ strongest qualifying performances of the season and places Russell in a strong position to collect valuable points in the Sprint.
By Aysel Mammadzada
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