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The Shanghai sprint race is go! Hamilton keeps his lead from Verstappen.
Hamilton takes up his place on pole position ahead of Verstappen, Piastri and the rest.
No surprises in the tyre choices – every single driver is starting on the medium rubber. The softs won’t go the distance and they’re stashing the hard tyres for the grand prix.
Hamilton asking race engineer Riccardo Adami whether he was looking after his tyres more than team mate Charles Leclerc on his way to the grid.
But will there be much of a spectacle in this 19-lap encounter? While F1 sells its sprint races as flat-out blasts to the chequered flag, practice showed the drivers are going to have to manage their tyres carefully in order to complete the distance.
Gratefully taking advantage of McLaren’s poor tactics in SQ3 were Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Any race which starts with those two on the front row is likely to produce fireworks.
Qualifying yesterday produced a surprise as McLaren, who looked like the team to beat after practice, slipped up. Lando Norris could only manage sixth on the grid, three places behind Oscar Piastri.
The sprint race at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix is coming up next.
2025 Chinese Grand Prix
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