Lando Norris secured pole position for the sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit after going quickest in a wet sprint qualifying session.
Norris was fastest by over a second from Lewis Hamiltonafter rain fell at the end of the second phase of qualifying.
Fernando Alonso will start third for Saturday’s sprint race, with championship leader Max Verstappen lining up in fourth.
SQ1
After just a single hour of practice, drivers headed out on track for the first of two three-stage qualifying sessions of the weekend. As per the regulations, all cars were compelled to run medium compound tyres during the first phase.As cars headed out on track for the first time, very light drops of rain began to fall from the overcast skies above. Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase assured his driver that his team did not expect the light rain to be enough to wet the circuit.
After the first timed laps, Sergio Perez was quickest of all, three tenths faster than team mate Verstappen with Fernando Alonso third for Aston Martin. Many drivers chose to remain on their tyres to complete multiple push laps with a cool lap in between.
Logan Sargeant complained that Pierre Gasly impeded him through the long right-hander of turn 13 leading onto the back straight. However, race control did not deem the incident being worthy of noting. Carlos Sainz Jnr passed Nico Hulkenberg through the fast left of turn seven, also accusing the Haas of impeding him, but, again, race control opted to take no action.
In the closing moments, George Russell was the surprising name still in the drop zone of the bottom five. But on his final effort, he managed to improve to 13th place and go 13th fastest, behind his team mate Lewis Hamilton. That dropped Pierre Gasly into elimination in 16th, with Alpine team mate Esteban Ocon also out in 17th.
Alexander Albon was also knocked out in 18th, with Yuki Tsunoda failing to follow RB team mate Daniel Ricciardo through to SQ2. Ricciardo reached the next stage despite Sainz overtaking him as he began his final lap, the RB driver retaking the Ferrari driver as they rounded the first two corners. Sargeant was the slowest driver eliminated from the session.
After the chequered flag flew for the end of the session, drivers began to report that another fire had ignited in the grass at the inside of turn seven, as also occurred during the earlier practice session. The start of SQ2 was therefore delayed while marshals set about it with their extinguishers.
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SQ1 result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’36.110 | |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’36.384 | 0.274 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’36.456 | 0.346 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’36.537 | 0.427 |
| 5 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’36.542 | 0.432 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’36.719 | 0.609 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’36.883 | 0.773 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’36.924 | 0.814 |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’36.961 | 0.851 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’37.033 | 0.923 |
| 11 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’37.112 | 1.002 |
| 12 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W15 | 1’37.181 | 1.071 |
| 13 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W15 | 1’37.310 | 1.200 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 01 | 1’37.321 | 1.211 |
| 15 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’37.544 | 1.434 |
| 16 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A524 | 1’37.632 | 1.522 |
| 17 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A524 | 1’37.720 | 1.610 |
| 18 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW46 | 1’37.812 | 1.702 |
| 19 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB-Honda RBPT | 01 | 1’37.892 | 1.782 |
| 20 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | FW46 | 1’37.923 | 1.813 |
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SQ2
During the delay between the two sessions, spectators around the Shanghai circuit began putting coats and waterproof ponchos on in the grandstands. McLaren warned Lando Norris that they expected rain five minutes into the start of SQ2 and sent him out to lead a queue of cars gathering at the end of the pit lane.
When the green light shone, cars rushed took to the track in an effort to get a lap in while the tack was sure to be dry. Norris was the first over the line to set a time, but was immediately beaten by team mate Oscar Piastri.
After every driver had completed their first flying lap, Verstappen was the fastest of all on a 1’35.606, a tenth of a second quicker than Leclerc’s Ferrari with Perez third. With three minutes remaining, however, those who remained out on track and did not choose to return to the pits all began to report significant rainfall.
It proved significant enough to rob the track of grip and render all drivers incapable of improving with further push laps. That left the order effectively determined, with Zhou Guanyu prompting cheers from the Shanghai spectators by becoming the final car through into the final phase of qualifying in tenth, following Sauber team mate Valtteri Bottas.
Zhou’s progression came at the expense of Russell, who just missed the cut in 11th place, complaining about a loss of tyre temperature as he did in the first session. His team mate Hamilton, who did not join the initial dash for the pit exit, did make the cut for the final 10.
Russell was joined by the two Haas cars of Magnussen and Hulkenberg out in 12th and 13th. Ricciardo was knocked out in 14th, while Lance Stroll was the slowest in the session to be eliminated 15th, half a second slower than Aston Martin team mate Alonso in eighth.
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SQ2 result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’35.606 | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’35.711 | 0.105 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 1’35.781 | 0.175 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’35.853 | 0.247 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’36.047 | 0.441 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-24 | 1’36.052 | 0.446 |
| 7 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’36.056 | 0.450 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’36.119 | 0.513 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W15 | 1’36.287 | 0.681 |
| 10 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 1’36.307 | 0.701 |
| 11 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W15 | 1’36.345 | 0.739 |
| 12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’36.473 | 0.867 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | VF-24 | 1’36.478 | 0.872 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB-Honda RBPT | 01 | 1’36.553 | 0.947 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’36.677 | 1.071 |
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SQ3
The rain fell steadily over the circuit as the teams prepared for the final phase of sprint qualifying, rendering intermediates a necessity for when the session eventually began. Another queue formed at the end of the pit lane, led by Piastri, and there was a major rush out onto the track as drivers were eager to set a time as soon as possible.Verstappen battled for track position with the two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz through the opening sector. Entering turn nine, Leclerc lost control of his car and spun off, skidding lightly into the barriers. He managed to recover out of the gravel trap and recover to the pit lane for a new front wing and a second set of intermediates.
Drivers struggled for grip around the wet track. Verstappen’s first time was deleted for going off track at turn six and his second was ruined when he ran wide at the final corner. Of those who kept their car on the circuit, Alonso went quickest with a 2’00.213, but Hamilton managed to go quicker by eight tenths just seconds before the chequered flag.
Norris took provisional pole position but lost his lap for allegedly exceeding track limits at the exit of the final corner on his previous lap. Verstappen could not beat Hamilton’s time, while Alonso improved to go second.
Hamilton was on track to improve his own provisional pole time in the final seconds, but at the same moment he did, race control reinstated Norris’s deleted time, which put the McLaren back on pole. Hamilton completed his lap and improved, but fell short of Norris’s reinstated time, which secured a sprint race pole for the McLaren driver.
Hamilton will start alongside Norris on the front row, with Alonso third for Aston Martin. Verstappen will start fourth with Sainz fifth for Ferrari. Perez took sixth in the second Red Bull, with Leclerc seventh. Piastri ended the session in eighth, three seconds behind his team mate after a gearbox problem with his lap, as the two Saubers of Bottas and Zhou completed the top ten.
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SQ3 result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 1’57.940 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W15 | 1’59.201 | 1.261 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR24 | 1’59.915 | 1.975 |
| 4 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 2’00.028 | 2.088 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-24 | 2’00.214 | 2.274 |
| 6 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB20 | 2’00.375 | 2.435 |
| 7 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-24 | 2’00.566 | 2.626 |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL38 | 2’00.990 | 3.050 |
| 9 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 2’01.044 | 3.104 |
| 10 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber-Ferrari | C44 | 2’03.537 | 5.597 |
2024 Chinese Grand Prix
- Aston Martin petitions FIA to review Alonso’s penalty for Sainz collision
- “You need to be more on it”: 12 unheard radio exchanges from the Chinese GP
- Ricciardo needs to show “head-turning form” for 2025 chance – Horner
- With fourth format change in as many years, F1 relegated sprint races to a sideshow
- Williams accept ‘harsh but correct’ penalty for Sargeant
Dave
19th April 2024, 9:42
Why was LN lap reinstated?
MaddSusie (@maddsusie)
19th April 2024, 9:52
The FIA/stewards felt that no advantage would have been gained by LN leaving the circuit, as such, they reinstated the lap.
McLaren have confirmed that they did not complain.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th April 2024, 9:58
Dave @maddsusie
Simply because two wheels were still on the white line, so no infringement happened in the first place.
Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
19th April 2024, 10:39
FIA Stewards documents confirm Lando went off and had his lap of 2:00.863 deleted as a result.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th April 2024, 10:53
@hammerheadgb That was for an earlier lap that stayed invalidated rather than the reinstated one.
Two wheels on the white line was very evident on the replay footage.
Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
19th April 2024, 11:09
@jerejj
It’s the same (potential) infringement. He didn’t go off on the pole lap. He went off on the final corner of the lap before, which got invalidated as a result. Time 16:17:33 local time (9 seconds after Max much more obviously ran off).
In any case it sounds like the event notes did not include a provision for deleting lap times for exceeding limits on approach at this event, and that’s why both Lando and Max got away with it.
ben
19th April 2024, 10:04
I always love it in F1 when feelings take precedent over the actual rules. So what a rule was broken, it’s better if we just ignore the rules and leave it all up to the stewards their feelings.
MichaelN
19th April 2024, 11:26
This is because the rules were written to give former race director Whiting as much power to meddle with the race as he wanted. It’s why Alonso claimed he never said anything during the driver briefings because Whiting would get vindictive if contradicted and ‘suddenly’ penalties would be given out.
The rule states that a driver that leaves the track, which isn’t actually disallowed as they must only make a ‘reasonable effort’ not to, is then ‘given the opportunity to give back the whole of any advantage he
gained’ (not the stewards).
It should be rewritten.
Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
19th April 2024, 9:56
A strict reading of the rules would see Lando’s pole time deleted for having run wide at the final corner of the preceding lap.
An argument is clearly being made of no advantage being gained, but that doesn’t wash during the hot lap itself so it shouldn’t wash on the approach either.
Interesting that Max was guilty of the exact same transgression but no attempt was made to delete his only (currently standing) lap time.
Once the stewards conduct a full review, it wouldn’t hugely surprise me to see both drivers left empty handed (and who knows, there may be others the TV cameras did not spot).
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 10:00
I didn’t want to see Lando on pole, but I’ve always hated seeing laps being deleted when the track limit violation would clearly only hurt them. So, while it may be inconsistent, I find it fair, especially in this case because he’d likely have only hurt his time being that far off the track.
Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
19th April 2024, 10:00
Re: suggestions Lando may not have run fully off at all – obviously if this is true there is no problem (looking at Max though there was no doubt)
Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
19th April 2024, 10:40
Closing this suggestion off – FIA Stewards documents confirm Lando went off at turn 16 and had his lap of 2:00.863 deleted as a result.
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 13:48
The point was that he was also off for the start of the next lap. Like I said, I didn’t think he should have been penalized. Just pointing out why both laps were initially invalidated.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
19th April 2024, 10:16
Both Lando and Max should realistically have their laps removed. They were off, and rules have to be as black-and-white as can be. There should be no room for “I think”, “I feel”, or “Well, these conditions there’s no benefit so let’s ignore that part of the rule”. If you go off in the final corner of your lap, the next lap is invalidated.
With that said, I’m thrilled to see 5 different cars in the top five for tomorrow’s Sprint, and the fastest one of those in 4th. China is easy to overtake, so I expect Max to win anyway, but maybe someone can put up a bit of a fight.
Ajaxn
19th April 2024, 13:41
It would be tough but it would be fairer on all the other drivers gingerly approaching that corner preparing for their timed lap.
Going wide means that had more speed, even if its raining and there’s gravel, they went off because they were carrying more speed. Lando’s winning margin, suggests this was done deliberately…
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
19th April 2024, 21:46
“Black & white” application of rules have (in memory) brought on more fiascos than intelligent application of the intent of the rule. Viz Indy 2004, Belgium 2021.
One could bring up Abu Dhabi 2021, but that doesn’t fit “intelligent application of the intent of the rule”.
K (@sugoi)
19th April 2024, 10:43
The Schrödinger white line, the car was both out and in of the last corner.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th April 2024, 10:54
Just about in
Ajaxn
19th April 2024, 13:42
lol,
if they were penalized for the end of the lap, then it follows they should be penalised for the start of the next.
Bill Niehoff (@justafan)
19th April 2024, 16:43
+1
Bill Niehoff (@justafan)
19th April 2024, 16:44
Meant as a response to K. I suck.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
19th April 2024, 10:51
To anyone curious why Lando’s lap time was reinstated, this is from the other article. Basically, there was no rule in place saying that lap times for the following lap are not legal after running wide on the final corner at this particular track. Seems to be a track specific rule. It’s nothing to do with whether he actually gained an advantage or not, or bending the rules due to circumstances.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th April 2024, 10:57
Indeed, albeit he still just about had the left wheels on the white line anyway, & yes, for some reason, the final corner gets mentioned separately for ‘following lap invalidation’ purposes only at Bahrain International Circuit (this year) Red Bull Ring, Silverstone, Losail, & Yas Marina.
S
19th April 2024, 11:05
Yeah… Every other track.
Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
19th April 2024, 11:11
Seems bizarre to me that this wouldn’t be a standard provision, but it does explain the outcome. Thanks.
mystic one (@mysticus)
19th April 2024, 10:57
The lines are illusion made by the quantum dot world. So lines are schrodinger quantum entangled therefor it can be both out and in at the same time. Depending on whether you are looking at these events from 4th dimension or not.
Same as all lapped cars can mean just the few cars between no1 and no2 guys in before sc restart rule at one event and for eternity all lapped cars regardless.
FIA = Fraudulent International Assistant
They re quantum experts so you can never tell reality like they do!
Jere (@jerejj)
19th April 2024, 11:01
While I Googled for Schrödinger’s Quantum, I still can’t wholly get what correlation it has with being on or over the white line.
MichaelN
19th April 2024, 11:16
What is the FIA doing that all the talk after qualifying on their return to China is about white lines?
These people are all making big money. Sort it out.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
19th April 2024, 12:00
Say what you want about the sprint format, this was infinitely more entertaining than the last wet Friday we had in Japan when only 7 cars ventured out to set a time in practice…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2024, 12:09
Absolutely, a shame there’s only talks about track limits here, I really liked this session and hamilton is still pretty good in the wet and with such a bad car, good to see; norris came out of nowhere with that lap after getting the first 2 sectors yellow.
I was afraid someone would crash and that they’d interrupt the session, seems conditions were probably a bit much for intermediates since drivers made a lot of mistakes, and curiously they were around 2 minutes per lap, similar to spa in these conditions, but on the dry spa takes several sec longer.
lyndamarks
19th April 2024, 13:10
@tommy-c I’d still rather not have this horrid sprint gimmick format.
Still rather watch a practice session than gimmicks.
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 13:51
Yeah, no cars running would be worlds better…
Lee1
19th April 2024, 13:17
China, Where grass is flammable…
Nick T.
19th April 2024, 13:52
Or the green spray paint on the grass. Basically everything in China is flammable. The amount of residential high rise fires they have and the world never hears about is remarkable.
Lee1
19th April 2024, 16:17
Plus buildings collapsing, bridges collapsing, roads collapsing. I am quite surprised that we have not seen an F! car disappear into a gaping whole that suddenly opens up.
I watched something the other day where they were painting gone off meat red in order to sell it…
But yes, they are famous for painting plants green.
Anthony H. Tellier
19th April 2024, 18:00
Meat without flies has been sprayed with DDT.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
19th April 2024, 20:16
I was suprised untill they explaned it. I don’t drive a F1 and I am no team principal. So the decision must be the right one. No team protested anyway.
David BR (@david-br)
19th April 2024, 20:48
Obviously there was an advantage gained by going off track on the final corner, whether just before the start of the lap or at the end. Staying within the limit meant going slower. Clown corner stewarding again.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
20th April 2024, 1:02
No advantage but his lap time was 1.5 seconds better than HAM and 2 seconds faster than ALO. NOR was just walking on water out there.