In the fifth round of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship, the Chinese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen secured Red Bull’s 100th F1 pole position.
The hour-long qualifying session is divided into three segments, with Verstappen starting ahead of teammate Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Five cars are eliminated in each of the first two segments, followed by a top-10 shootout in the third.
Q1 of the Chinese Grand Prix: What happened?
With a lap time of 1 minute, 34.742 seconds, Verstappen took the lead, 0.055 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and a tenth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Local hero Zhou Guanyu (Sauber), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), runner-up Lewis Hamilton (who locked up in his Mercedes at the hairpin), Yuki Tsunoda (RB), and Logan Sargeant (who spun his Williams) all fell at the first hurdle.
Q2 of the Chinese Grand Prix: What happened?
Verstappen won this session, clocking in 0.232 seconds faster than Perez at 1 minute, 33.794 seconds.
At the last corner, Carlos Sainz spun his Ferrari into the wall, resulting in a red flag. With his front wing missing, he made it back to the pits and returned to finish an amazing third in the session.
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Daniel Ricciardo (RB), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Alex Albon (Williams), and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) were eliminated at this stage.
Q3 of the Chinese Grand Prix: What happened?
Verstappen set the pole position standard on the first run, clocking in at 1m33.977s, four tenths faster than Alonso.
Verstappen improved to 1m33.660s on the final laps to win pole by 0.322 seconds over Perez. He was also half a second ahead of Alonso, Norris, Oscar Piastri (McLaren), and the Leclerc and Sainz Ferraris.
Starting ninth are George Russell (Mercedes), Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), and Valtteri Bottas (Sauber).
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