SHANGHAI (AP) — McLaren’s Oscar Piastri scored his first-ever pole position in Formula 1 during a thrilling qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix. The 23-year-old Australian secured the top spot with two impressive laps, outpacing Mercedes’ George Russell, who will start alongside him in second.
Piastri expressed his excitement ahead of Sunday’s race, where tire wear will be a key concern. He explained the challenges of his final lap, saying, “My first lap was honestly better than my second, but I lost a bit of time near the end.” However, he decided to push hard on the second lap to regain lost time, which paid off.
His teammate, Lando Norris, will start in fourth, just behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Norris has had a strong season, having won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but he acknowledged some struggles in qualifying. “Oscar’s shown great pace. I definitely haven’t,” he mentioned, indicating his need to analyze data to improve.
Russell, eager to split the McLarens for an impressive front-row start, described this qualifying session as one of the toughest he’s faced. He had to manage tire performance carefully, finding significant speed on his final lap.
Several rookies also made headlines in qualifying. Isack Hadjar, who previously crashed in his debut race, starts in seventh, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli is eighth for Mercedes. Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 for Williams.
Interestingly, Piastri’s pole position marks the first for an Australian driver since Daniel Ricciardo achieved this feat in 2018. He shared his pride: “It’s nice to do it for myself, but it’s also nice to do it for Australia.”
With the race set to kick off at 3 p.m. local time, fans are eager to see if Piastri can turn his pole position into a maiden victory.
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Source linkOscar Piastri, Lando Norris, George Russell, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz Jr., Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Sports – Europe, Formula One, Auto Racing, Sports, Formula One racing, Alexander Albon
