In the rain, Lando Norris takes the sprint pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton!

• Is it the fact of not having filed this Chinese bitumen for five years? Or is it the strange paint that was added to this track by the organizers? Still, the Shanghai track was absolutely impassable given the rain that poured this Friday. And in this little game, it's Lando Norris who did well in SQ3. The young Englishman first saw his pole time canceled, before seeing it reintroduced! He was well ahead (1 »2) Lewis Hamilton and another very experienced pilot, a certain Fernando Alonso, in what was an entertaining SQ3 without calculation!
• Max Verstappen, the championship leader, struggled in these conditions, never finding grip and going off track twice. He will nevertheless start 4th and will maintain reasonable chances of victory. The Dutchman was ahead Carlos Sainz (4th) and Sergio Pérez (5th).
• The SQ3 was complicated for Charles Leclerc also. On his first exit lap, the Monegasque lost the car and hit the wall with his front wing. He was able to restart, but only completed two laps compared to three to four for his competitors. He limits the damage with a 7th fastest time ahead Oscar piastri.
• Note the excellent session of Sauber and the local hero Guanyu-Zhou. The Swiss team, which will be called Audi in 2026, placed its two drivers in SQ3, which earned a nice explosion of joy from the Chinese spectators! The Shanghai native will start 10th on the grid, just behind his Finnish teammate.

Inters bolted on across the board but no one can find any grip, including Leclerc and Verstappen! 😵# F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/Zameisw0lS

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 19, 2024

• The first surprise of the session came a little earlier from George Russell. The Briton in fact took the door in SQ2, missing out on making the top 10 by only 38/1000th when the rain started to appear. He will leave in front of the two Haas, Daniel Ricciardo et Lance stroll, yet author of the best time in EL1.
• Disappointment in the French clan with the elimination of the two Alpine in SQ1. Esteban Ocon, who benefits from the new improved flat bottom, was beaten by less than 1/10th by his teammate Pierre Gasly. The two men will start 16th and 17th in the sprint, ahead of Alex Albon (18e) Yuki tsunoda (19e) and Logan sargeant (20e).
• See you this Saturday at 5:00 a.m. for the start of the first sprint race of the season, before the Grand Prix qualifying session scheduled four hours later at 9:XNUMX a.m.

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