Between challenges, near misses, controversies and going off track, there were calmer mornings at home Ferrari. It ends with another disappointing qualifying and another difficult comeback to be attempted tomorrow in the race: Leclerc sixth, Sainz just behind despite a spin without consequences in Q2, while six tenths ahead Max Verstappen took another pole, his 100th at home Red Bull who had won first in China 15 years ago with Vettel.
The Red Army's restless morning, it was said. Before dawn we witnessed the great duel in the Sprint race, with Leclerc attacking Sainz. Taken beyond the limits of the track at turn 14, complete with contact between the two SF-24s, Charles then overtook his teammate to finish in 4th place and vented over the radio: “He fights more with me than with the others.” The Spaniard's explanations arrived by return post, both public (“If I was aggressive, I apologize”) and private, in the meeting that preceded qualifying. But it wasn't over. Because during the hunt for pole, in Q2, Sainz made a mistake exiting the last corner, touching the gravel and ending up spinning into the barriers on the other side of the straight. Fortunately he was able to continue after the red flag and the replacement of the front wing. He limited the damage, even if the fourth row cannot be considered a good result, nor the Monegasque's third. Ferrari is unable to solve the fastest lap puzzle, the problem of bringing the tires to the right temperature remains unsolvable.
In any case, pole is always associated with the same name, that of Verstappen. Ruthless in the Sprint, in which in nine laps he recovered four positions before cruising towards another victory, a few hours later the Dutchman also added the 37th pole start of his career to a collection that every two weeks becomes increasingly bulkier. It is also the fifth in a row at the start of the season, like Senna (1989) and Hakkinen (1999), -2 from Prost's record (1993), no longer unattainable. Tomorrow morning Max will start for the first time in front of everyone in the Chinese GP, which returns after five years of absence due to Covid. «The car also seems to have improved compared to the short race – commented the world champion -, the team did an excellent job». Perez will also be on the front row, completing the 28th Red Bull double, third of the season after Bahrain and Japan.
If Verstappen continues to dominate with his Red Bull, Hamilton does not see the light at the end of the tunnel of a very long crisis. Great protagonist in the Sprint, with the mini-pole missed yesterday in the rain and nine laps spent in the lead after overtaking Lando Norris at the start, the next Ferrari driver (from 2025) experienced one of the worst qualifyings of his career, eliminated immediately and 18th ° precisely in one of his favorite circuits, on which he achieved 6 poles and 6 victories. Only 9 times, in 336 Grands Prix, has the seven-time world champion – who paid for a 7-tenths error in turn 14 – started further back than he will be forced to do tomorrow. Also beaten by the home idol, Zhou Guangyu, highly applauded by the large local audience.
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