Lewis Hamilton was left “gobsmacked” after positioning himself at the front of the grid for the first time as a Ferrari driver by topping Sprint Qualifying in China.
Hamilton endured a difficult first race weekend with the Scuderia in Australia, but the smiles returned emphatically on Friday in Shanghai as he pipped Max Verstappen in Sprint pole by 0.018s with a lap record time of 1m 30.849s.
READ MORE: Hamilton charges to pole over Verstappen and Piastri during Sprint Qualifying thriller in China
After falling short of team mate Charles Leclerc in the season opener, the seven-time World Champion seized the advantage in conditions representative of both Qualifying and the Grand Prix to take top spot for the grid as favourites McLaren faltered.
Oscar Piastri could only manage the third best time in SQ3, while last weekend’s winner in Melbourne, Lando Norris, could only go sixth fastest – the Briton making a mistake on his first SQ3 lap before he abandoned the second.
Hamilton took a surprise pole for the Sprint in China
“I’m just a bit gobsmacked, honestly,” said Hamilton after securing his shock P1. “I’m a bit taken aback by it. I didn’t know when we would get to this position.
“After last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week and I came here with aggression and just wanted to go into the weekend and get the car into a really great place.
“I started out straightaway with a better feeling in the car and I can’t believe that we’re at the front, ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, the first race, and even today.”
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Assessing his lap, he added: “My first sector was really, really strong, I think that’s where I made most of my improvement on that lap, but just little increments through the whole place.
“There’s still time to find, for sure, which I’ll try and make sure that I apply to the next Qualifying session we go out in. It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and to be in the red car, it’s pretty incredible.”
This is only the second time that Hamilton will have started a Sprint from pole position, with the previous occasion being the inaugural Sprint at Silverstone in 2021.
Asked if it will be possible to hang on in the Sprint itself on Saturday, he said: “I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain. Obviously we did the race last weekend in the wet, but tomorrow will be kind of my first real long-ish run and Sunday will be my first proper race run in the dry with this car, so I’ll be learning.
“I’m hoping that we can hold onto it but I think the McLarens are very, very fast, as is Max. But we’re in a good position, we’ll stay positive, we’ll keep our heads high and keep pushing forwards.”
