Illusion in Mercedes
A few seconds after Lewis Hamilton took pole position in the Sprint qualifications of the Chinese Grand Prixin home Mercedes a climate of strong disappointment was generated as a result of the decision taken by the Race Direction. The latter, after initially canceling Lando Norris' lap, retraced its steps by validating the time of the English driver, who thus jumped ahead of everyone in the standings, thus snatching the starting position from the seven-time world champion.
Russell out of the top-10
The illusion of Hamilton's return to pole can however be partially consoled by the latter's front row, unlike the outcome of qualifying George Russell. Surprisingly, in fact, the Briton was unable to obtain the pass for SQ3 when the Shanghai track was still dry. In this way, #63 will start from11th position in the Sprint race.
Immediately on the track to avoid the rain
An unexpected result for the 26-year-old, who explained the reasons behind his failure to reach the top-10 in SQ2: “It wasn't easy at all out there – commented – I did one lap in SQ2 before the rain came, which was frustrating. We tried to get on track as soon as possible, because we knew it was going to rain. However, we got stuck behind several cars in the pitlane and we lost a lot of tire temperature. We were still close to passing the round; a tenth more and we would have done it, so it was a shame to miss this opportunity. Who knows what would have happened if we had moved up to SQ3. However, we have the chance to recover in tomorrow's Sprint. After that, in the afternoon there will be qualifying for the Grand Prix and that's what really matters.”
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