Oscar Piastri set a new track record on his was to his first career prix prole position in a tight qualifying session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix. The McLaren driver set a time of 1:30.641 beat Mercedes’ George Russell by just nine hundredths of a second, with team-mate Lando Norris another five hundredths back in third.

Piastri set the pace in the opening runs of Q1, with the McLaren driver stopping the clock at 1:31.591, a tenth ahead of China Sprint winner Lewis Hamilton and almost half a second ahead of third-placed Russell. 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was one of the last to leave the pit lane, however, and his opener flyer, which featured a purple final sector, pushed him past Piastri on 1:31.424. 

Verstappen opted to sit out the final runs and with the track improving all the time, the door was left open for his time to be challenged. The first to do that was Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda who jumped ahead with a lap of 1:31.238. The Japanese driver’s new team-mate, Isack Hadjar, then found another handful of hundredths to briefly take P1 before McLaren’s Lando Norris jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:30.983. 

At the other end of timesheet, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first to exit the session in P16, followed by Haas’ Oliver Bearman, the second Alpine of Jack Doohan, Sauber’s Gabirel Bortoleto and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson. 

Norris was again quickest in the opening runs of Q2. The Briton posted a time of 1:30.787 to sit four tenths clear of team-mate Piastri, with Verstappen in third place with a lap of 1:31.234. Russell slotted into fourth with Tsunoda again looking pacey in fifth. 

Norris decided to sit out the final runs, while Piastri went out on a used set of Soft-compound Pirelli tyres. That allowed Verstappen to steal P2 with his final time of 1:31.142, 0.355s off Norris. 

The impressive Hadjar took fourth place thanks to a lap 1:31.253, just five hundredths of a second off Piastri, while Tsunoda backed up his team-mate with fifth place, four hundredths ahead of Russell. 

Eliminated at the end of Q2 were Haas’ Esteban Ocon in P11, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Land Stroll and in 15th place Williams’ Carlos Sainz. 

Verstappen set the pace early in Q3 with a lap of 1:30.925. That was not quite good enough to hold off the McLarens, however, and Piastri took provisional pole 0.222s ahead of the champion, with Norris nine-hundredths of a second behind his team-mate. 

And the Australian was one of the few to improve in the final runs, finding another six hundredths to claim his first grand prix pole position. Norris backed out of his final flyer and that allowed Russell to claim a front-row berth with a time of 1:30.723. Norris was left with third ahead of Verstappen  who couldn’t find any gains on his final flyer.

Hamilton secured fifth ahead of team-mate Leclerc and Isack Hadjar claimed an excellent seventh place. The French driver was, however, set to be investigated after the session for an unsafe release into the path of Max ahead of the final runs. Andrea Kimi Antonelli qualified eighth place for Mercedes ahead of Tsunoda and Alex Albon took tenth place for Williams. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:30.641 - -
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:30.723 0.082 0.090
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:30.793 0.152 0.168
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:30.817 0.176 0.194
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:30.927 0.286 0.316
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.021 0.380 0.419
7 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:31.079 0.438 0.483
8 Aandrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.103 0.462 0.510
9 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:31.638 0.997 1.100
10 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:31.706 1.065 1.175
11 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:31.625 0.984 1.086
12 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:31.632 0.991 1.093
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:31.688 1.047 1.155
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:31.773 1.132 1.249
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:31.840 1.199 1.323
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:31.992 1.351 1.490
17 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:32.018 1.377 1.519
18 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:32.092 1.451 1.601
19 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:32.141 1.500 1.655
20 Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:32.174 1.533 1.691