The Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) has won pole for the Chinese Grand Prix race, fifth round of the Formula 1 World Championship, while the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) will start third after a magnificent qualifying session in the that Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) was seventh.
The current world champion, winner of the sprint race and with a time of 1:33.660, dominated a classification in which he managed to certify his sixth consecutive pole -including the last Grand Prix of last year-, the team’s 100th, and lead Red Bull’s second straight double, with Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez finishing second.
Behind the two cars of the two cars of the energy drink brand stood a great Fernando Alonso, capable of forgetting the incident of the sprint race, in which he was penalized with 10 seconds and three points in the super license for a clash with Carlos Sainz.
The Asturian flew in Q3 to be the first of the rest and rise to third place in the final, four tenths behind ‘Mad Max’. With this, he will start from the second row of the grid, where he will be accompanied by the British Lando Norris (McLaren), fourth.
“In the first sector I lost the car a little, I lost two tenths, but I didn’t give up,” explained the two-time world champion about his best lap after the session. “The car has improved since this morning and we will see if that translates into points tomorrow. We are not in the position we want, but we keep pushing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sainz confirmed his bad day, which began with the contact with Alonso in the sprint that still did not prevent him from being fifth. The Madrid native suffered an accident on the finish line of the Shanghai Circuit during Q2 and hit the wall, which caused the red flag; The mechanics repaired the damage to his car and he was able to return to the track, but it was only enough for him to be seventh, eight thousandths behind his teammate, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
Between Alonso and the two ‘Scuderia’ cars were the two McLarens, with Norris fourth and the Australian Oscar Piastri fifth. Furthermore, the British George Russell (Mercedes), eighth, was the lesser evil for Mercedes, who saw how the seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton -second in the sprint- was unable to overcome Q1 and will have to start eighteenth.
The German Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) will start from ninth position and the Finnish Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber) completed the ‘Top 10’, which did not include Alonso’s teammate, the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), who will start the Sunday’s race from the eleventh starting place.
