Max Verstappen has extended his impressive streak by securing a commanding pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix, marking Red Bull’s 100th pole in their illustrious history.
The Dutch driver dominated the session at the Shanghai International Circuit, setting a blistering time of 1m 33.660s in Q3. Meanwhile, his teammate Sergio Perez secured the second position after an intense battle for P2.
Fernando Alonso claimed third place, with the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri following closely behind. Charles Leclerc secured sixth place on the grid.
Despite a spin into the barriers in Q2, Carlos Sainz recovered to finish in seventh place, while George Russell emerged as the top Mercedes driver in eighth. Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas rounded off the top 10 in ninth and 10th positions respectively.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll narrowly missed out on Q3, finishing in 11th place, while Daniel Ricciardo suffered a similar fate in 12th position.
Despite making it into Q2 for the first time this season, the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly settled for 13th and 15th places respectively. Alex Albon of Williams found himself in 14th place.
In a surprising turn of events, Lewis Hamilton failed to advance from Q1 and ended up in 18th place. Zhou Guanyu also struggled, finishing in 16th place for Kick Sauber in front of his home crowd.
