George Russell carried over his winning momentum from Australia to land a crushing pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Russell laid down a championship marker to win Formula One’s season-opening race and he now looks set to dominate the second round in Shanghai.
The British driver finished 0.289 seconds clear of team-mate Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes ominously locked out the front row for Saturday’s 19-lap dash to the chequered flag.
Behind the all-conquering Silver Arrows will be world champion Lando Norris, albeit 0.621 seconds slower than Russell.
The first #F1Sprint Pole of the season goes to George Russell 👏💨#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/5AElj6fEgn
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 13, 2026
Lewis Hamilton won the sprint race for Ferrari a year ago – the sole highlight of a bitterly disappointing first season in red – and he will at least be in the mix again after qualifying fourth.
Hamilton will be the meat in a McLaren sandwich with Oscar Piastri fifth on the grid. Charles Leclerc lines up in sixth, a full second off the pace, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly an impressive seventh.
Max Verstappen has already expressed his deep disdain for the new regulations and his latest display is unlikely to allay those negative thoughts. He finished eighth here, an eye-watering 1.7 seconds down.
