Following Saturday morning’s Sprint Race, where George Russell claimed the victory, followed by the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, all eyes turned to the Formula 1 (F1) Chinese GP Qualifying session. Antonelli claimed pole position, with Russell and Hamilton taking P2 and P3.
Red Bull made significant setup changes ahead of the session, with Max Verstappen’s car undergoing a full configuration change after the Sprint Race. Sergio Pérez’s engine cover fell off his Cadillac at the end of the Sprint Race, with the team fixing the sustained damaged before Qualifying.
Q1 F1 Chinese GP
Mercedes clearly were ahead of the pace, with both drivers leading the timings early in Q1.
Lindblad headed out on track but returned to the pits, as he was having more reliability issues with his Racing Bulls machiery, as seen across the entire weekend so far. Cadillac, Aston Martin and Williams were off the pace in the Chinese GP Qualifying, knocking all respective drivers from those teams out in Q1.
Leclerc was fastest in Q1, with Russell and Antonelli in P2 and P3.
Eliminated in Q1:
- P17 – Sainz
- P18 – Albon
- P19 – Alonso
- P20 – Bottas
- P21 – Stroll
- P22 – Pérez
Q2
Again, both Mercedes and Ferrari were on the pace early. Gasly appeared up in the top 10, with Piastri, Hadjar, Hülkenberg and Ocon on the cusp of the elimination zone.
Audi, Racing Bulls, Ocon and Colapinto were the drivers in the elimination zone with 6 minutes to go.
Lindblad and Lawson were both on flying laps, but had to abort as the double yellow flags were waved for Bortoleto who was off track heading into the final corner and into the gravel.
Eliminated in Q2:
- P11 – Hülkenberg
- P12 – Colapinto
- P13 – Ocon
- P14 – Lawson
- P15 – Lindblad
- P16 – Bortoleto
Q3
Russell stopped on track, reporting having issues shifting gears. However, he managed to get going again, returning to the pits without setting a time. He was able to complete one flying lap at the end of Q3 to put him in P2.
Antonelli claimed pole position, with Russell in P2 and Hamilton in P3.
- P1 – Antonelli
- P2 – Russell
- P3 – Hamilton
- P4 – Leclerc
- P5 – Piastri
- P6 – Norris
- P7 – Gasly
- P8 – Verstappen
- P9 – Hadjar
- P10 – Bearman
2026 F1 Chinese GP Qualifying results
- Antonelli – 1:32.064
- Russell – 1:32.286
- Hamilton – 1:32.415
- Leclerc – 1:32.428
- Piastri – 1:32.550
- Norris – 1:32.608
- Gasly – 1:32.873
- Verstappen – 1:33.002
- Hadjar – 1:33.121
- Bearman – 1:33.292
- Hülkenberg – 1:33.354
- Colapinto – 1:33. 357
- Ocon – 1:33.538
- Lawson – 1:33.765
- Lindblad – 1:33.784
- Bortoleto – 1:33.965
- Sainz – 1:34.317
- Albon – 1:34.772
- Alonso – 1:35.436
- Bottas – 1:35.436
- Stroll – 1:35.995
- Pérez – 1:36.906
