The seven-time champion looked competitive in the intra-Ferrari fight on Friday at Shanghai, but his pole still came as a surprise given McLaren looked to have enjoyed a decisive margin through practice and the first two segments of sprint qualifying on medium tyres.

Yet in the end it was Hamilton and Verstappen who were 0.018s apart in the fight for pole, while the McLarens came up short on softs in the final shootout.

SQ3 drama

Two messy laps from championship leader Lando Norris left the door open for McLaren to be beaten – though it was team-mate Oscar Piastri who led that final segment, SQ3, initially.

But Piastri’s second attempt was short of an improvement despite a strong final sector, and he was usurped by Hamilton – consistently quicker than Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc through all of sprint qualifying.

A last-gasp dash for pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came up just short despite a superb final sector, leaving Piastri – eighth hundredths off – to settle for third.

Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell completed the top five.

A lock-up into the Turn 14 hairpin meant Norris had to abandon his final attempt and dive into the pits so ended up a disappointing sixth, although well clear of seventh-placed Kimi Antonelli. The rookie was close to Mercedes team-mate Russell through SQ1 and SQ2, but his sole push lap on softs just didn’t come together.

Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

Lawson’s woes exacerbated

Liam Lawson being just four tenths off his decorated team-mate Verstappen after his first SQ1 attempt was cause for optimism – but when his follow-up didn’t come together, it meant not just elimination but the embarrassment of last place on the grid.

He was already off the pace through the first sector, then got sideways on the kerb coming out of Turn 9, forced to abandon the lap and his hopes of reaching SQ2.

He told race engineer Richard Wood afterwards that he was “really sorry but I just honestly could not get the tyres [presumably temperature] down”.

Disillusion for Alonso and Sainz

Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso was the biggest surprise to drop out in SQ2 – due to having been notably fast in the first segment.

He was 0.021s off advancing into the top 10, and will be joined on the sixth row in the sprint by Ollie Bearman, whose stellar qualifying effort flickered life into what has otherwise been a brutal start to 2025 so far for Haas.

Carlos Sainz was badly adrift of Williams team-mate Albon – some eight tenths in SQ2 – and was only faster than Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto of those to log a lap in that second segment.

Bortoleto’s fellow rookie Isack Hadjar never set a time, having matched up well with Racing Bulls team-mate Tsunoda in SQ1 – but then botching the entry to Turn 1 on his sole attempt in the second segment and thus resigning himself to no laptime at all.

He did then tow Tsunoda, which may well have been crucial to that aforementioned 0.021s margin separating the Japanese and Alonso.

Other SQ1 exits

Alpine – which has acknowledged that it’s had to make modifications due to the rear wing flexibility technical directive coming in from this weekend – had both of its drivers eliminated in the first segment. But rookie Jack Doohan did back up what had looked like strong Melbourne pace by beating team-mate Pierre Gasly – largely on the strength of his first sector relative to Gasly’s.

Esteban Ocon was a hundredths back from his past team-mate Gasly, but will have been more discouraged by the comparison to current team-mate Bearman – who beat him by four tenths.

Part of that will have been in the final corner, where Ocon brushed the gravel trap – but the Frenchman also queried with Haas whether the car was okay was it was “difficult to drive”.

Nico Hulkenberg looked on to progress comfortably after his first SQ1 attempt but ran out of laptime on his final try, and sounded genuinely shocked at being eliminated – but did beat Lawson.