Just five days have passed since the disaster in Melbourne, but Ferrari has already turned the page and made history. It won’t be an official pole, as it doesn’t count for the Formula 1 statistics, but the one from the Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix is Lewis Hamilton’s first pole with a Ferrari, and it was also a surprise, because in the only free practice session, the McLarens seemed unbeatable for the competition.
However, the seven-time world champion delivered a lap close to perfection, especially in S1, where his SF-25 seemed almost on rails, and in the end, he claimed the new lap record at the Shanghai circuit with a time of 1’30″849, edging out Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull, the reigning world champion, by just 18 thousandths of a second. Verstappen also emerged almost from nowhere, while the McLarens disappointed, with Oscar Piastri finishing in third and Lando Norris even in sixth.
While last week he tried not to make a drama, today, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur also refrained from making any proclamations after this achievement: “It went better than last week, but it’s still difficult to interpret and understand things between one session and the next. Sometimes McLaren has a huge advantage, and sometimes not, so we need to analyze the data, and I think there will be a lot of work to do,” said the boss of the Scuderia to Sky Sports microphones.
It is undeniable that, on a morale level, it’s a big boost of confidence, especially for Hamilton, who certainly didn’t have the Red debut he dreamed of in Melbourne: “For sure, it’s a good feeling when compared to last week, when we struggled so much in both qualifying and the race. This gives a positive energy to the team and to Lewis.”
On the topic, he also tried to keep a low profile in front of Canal+ microphones: “We are not world champions, we must stay calm! Today went well, but it’s not like we’ve won two races in a row. We need to stay calm. In every situation, whether positive or negative, we need to try to understand what’s happening and not get worked up. This was true last week, and it’s true today.”
In Sprint weekends, in fact, there is no time to rest on one’s laurels because tomorrow there is already a short race and another qualifying session to take on: “Points are awarded starting from the Sprint, so it was a positive day. Lewis was also ahead in Q1, and this shows his consistency, but now we must think about tomorrow,” Fred Vasseur concluded at the end of the Sprint Qualifying session in Shanghai.
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