George Russell cruises to Chinese GP Sprint Pole| Report

Sebastian Alston
2 days ago
3 min read

Mercedes kicked off their Chinese GP weekend with a front grid lockout ahead of the first Sprint race of 2026 as George Russell took pole.

Russell's time of a 1:31.520 was 0.289 seconds quicker than teammate Kimi Antonelli, who himself was over three tenths ahead of third place Lando Norris.

Despite displaying hope in Melbourne, Ferrari were only able to manage P4 with Lewis Hamilton and P6 with Charles Leclerc, who was a full second off the pace.

Further back, it was a torrid session for Max Verstappen, who qualified down in P8, 1.734s off Russell, and even behind Pierre Gasly in an Alpine who will start tomorrow's Sprint from seventh.

It was a marked improvement for Alpine who struggled with one lap pace last weekend, and they'll be hoping to build on this result as they start their Mercedes PU era.

Ollie Bearman was last weekends class of the midfield, continued to impress with P9, ahead of Isack Hadjar in P10, and notably comfortably ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon who qualified in P12.

Racing Bulls were unable to replicate their Melbourne double Q3 appearance, as Liam Lawson could only manage P13, with Arvid Lindblad, who had a cut short FP1, down in P15.

Elsewhere, Williams, Aston Martin and Cadillac all struggled once again with the teams six drivers occupying the bottom six spots on the grid.

More news has come out of the paddock about Williams weight issues, which according to some, could take months to solve, while Aston Martin showed improved reliability, but ultimately a complete lack of pace with the Honda PU.

Tomorrow's Sprint Race starts at 03:00am UK time, before Qualifying from 07:00am.

Driver Quotes

Speaking afterwards, George said: "The car has been feeling amazing. After Melbourne, we had a really good car and the engine has been performing really well and today was a real joy to drive."

Second place Antonelli said: "The pace is very strong but just didn't put the lap together at the end on the softs. Still work to do and all to play for tomorrow."

It was an improvement for third place Lando Norris, as he outqualified teammate Oscar Piastri. The World Champion was notably happier in his post Qualifying interview: "P3 is as good as we can do for the time being.

"I'm actually happy to beat both of the Ferraris today because they seemed pretty good the whole day.

"Certainly things have been better this weekend just because the track is a lot more simple from the power unit side of things.

"Everyone kind of falls in line a bit more but we seemed to get a good amount out of it at the end, it was close. Good lap and it puts me in a good position.

"I'm feeling good in the car. It's more about details and tomorrow we will try to have a good start."

Hamilton, who took Sprint pole in China last year, said: "Really pleased with the session. P1 was a tricky session with a spin.

"We are losing a lot of time on the straights, we have a lot of work to do to improve on power.

"Mercedes have done a fantastic job and we have to step up and push to close the gap. Car-wise the car feels great and we can compete in the corners but when you're down on power it is the way it is."