Oscar Piastri raised the stakes in his championship battle with Lando Norris by securing the first pole position of his career at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Norris won last weekend’s opening round in Australia with Piastri only ninth after he slipped off the road in the rain when narrowly trailing his McLaren team-mate.
But at the second round of the season in Shanghai, Piastri pulled out all the stops to see off George Russell of Mercedes by just 0.082 seconds with Norris having to settle for third, more than a tenth adrift of the Australian.
Max Verstappen took fourth spot, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who landed his first win as a Ferrari driver in the earlier sprint race.
Norris has been talked up as the championship favourite following his season-opening win in Melbourne, and McLaren’s apparent advantage over the rest of the field. Indeed Russell claimed here that McLaren should win every race this year.
But Norris’ campaign suffered two setbacks on Saturday when he made a mistake on the first lap of the sprint race to cross the line only eighth before being beaten to top spot on the grid for Sunday’s main event.
Norris trailed Piastri by just 0.090 sec heading into the final runs, but he had to abort his second flying lap with his team-mate extending his advantage.
To make matters worse for Norris, Russell usurped him in the closing moments with a fine lap to land a spot on the front row in his Silver Arrows.
“That was the hairpin of my life,” said Piastri after taking top spot.
“I just had a little scream in my helmet. It was a bit of a journey to get there but we did it.”
TOP-10 - CHINESE GP QUALIFYING
1. Oscar Piastri - 1:30:641
2. George Russell +0.082
3. Lando Norris + 0.152
4. Max Verstappen +0.176
5. Lewis Hamilton +0.286
6. Charles Leclerc +0.380
7. Isack Hadjar +0.438
8. Kimi Antonelli +0.462
9. Yuki Tsunoda +0.997
10. Alex Albon +1.065
Out of the car, he added: “I just found a lot of pace in Q3 and the car came alive. I came alive in Q3, too. Happy with what I did. The laps were a bit scruffy but I am just pumped to be on pole.”
Norris added: “I am always disappointed when I am not on pole but Oscar deserved it today. I am happy for him. It was just a couple of mistakes and that has been the case for me this weekend.”
Following his impressive sprint win, Hamilton trailed Piastri by 0.286 seconds but finished one place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Liam Lawson’s miserable start to his Red Bull career continued after he could finish only 20th and last, a day after he suffered the same fate in qualifying for the sprint race.
British 19-year-old Ollie Bearman also failed to progress to the second phase and will line up from 17th.
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F1 Chinese GP LIVE: Piastri claims brilliant pole as Hamilton falters in qualifying
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