Many pilots left the track, torrential rain and grass fires. The three qualifying sessions for the Formula 1 Chinese GP sprint race have had absolutely everything. These changing conditions have allowed the grill to be unusual. The British Lando Norris (McLaren) will start first on Saturday morning at the Shanghai circuit, while Lewis Hamilton will start second, Fernando Alonso, third and Carlos Sainz, fifth.
In the third qualifying round (SQ3), Norris was able to cover the 5,451 meters of the Shanghai track with a time of 1:57:940, thus beating his compatriot and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) by more than a second (1,261).
On the second row of the grid will be the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), with 1:59:915 and the current world champion and championship leader, the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull). The Spaniard suffered a trip off the track, but was able to recover to be one of the best in the final round.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) was in fifth position, immediately followed by the Mexican Sergio 'Checo' Pérez (Red Bull). Especially celebrated by the fans was the survival in the initial two rounds of the local idol Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber), the first F1 driver in the history of China and a native of Shanghai, although he ended up finishing last in SQ3.
This final phase of the classification, held with intermediate tires, was marked by the rain that already made an appearance at the end of the second round (SQ2).
The Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) gave a good account of this by spinning and touching the front wing against the wall, although he finally achieved a 7th position; Verstappen also suffered when he briefly went off in the final corner of the track. This weekend will be the first sprint race of the season, and will be held on Saturday morning with 19 laps, a third of the 56 in the complete competition on Sunday.
