14 March,2026 09:26 AM IST | Shanghai | AFP
Mercedes’s George Russell celebrates after claiming pole position in the sprint qualifying at Shanghai on Friday. PIC/AFP
Championship pacesetter George Russell took pole position on Friday for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, leading a Mercedes one-two ahead of Kimi Antonelli.
Russell clocked 1min 31.520sec around the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit, 0.289sec quicker than Antonelli with world champion Lando Norris 0.621sec behind his fellow Englishman in third.
Joining Norris on the second row for Saturday morning's 19-lap race will be Lewis Hamilton, winner of the China sprint a year ago. The seven-time Formula One world champion was fourth in his Ferrari, 0.641sec slower than Russell.
"The car's been feeling amazing," said Russell, who leads the championship after winning the season-opening race in Australia last weekend. "We knew after Melbourne we had a really good car. The engine's performing really well. And today it was a real joy to drive, so I'm happy," added Russell.
A fuming Max Verstappen said Friday was "a disaster" after torrid practice and sprint qualifying sessions. Verstappen's Red Bull was almost two seconds behind championship leader George Russell's Mercedes as he finished in eighth place in both sessions in Shanghai.
"The whole day has been a disaster pace-wise: no grip - I honestly think that is the biggest problem - no grip, no balance," said an angry Verstappen, whose best lap was a colossal 1.734 sec adrift of Russell. "[We are] just losing massive amounts of time in the corners and then of course because of that you start to trigger other little problems," he added.
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