Fraser MasefieldGeorge Russell underlined Mercedes’ superiority at the start of the 2026 Formula One season by claiming a dominant pole position for the Chinese GP Sprint race.
Russell clocked a fastest mark of 1m31.520s, that time .299s quicker than teammate Kimi Antonelli and over half a second faster than third placed Lando Norris.
“I am happy that we were able to secure pole position for tomorrow’s Sprint race, the first Sprint pole of my career,” commented Russell on the official Mercedes F1 website.
“The W17 has been feeling great the entire day, and we’ve been able to make the most out of the car in today’s qualifying session.
“When the wind picked up in SQ3, we began to lose some speed on the straights, like others, but still managed to put all the sectors together and secure a front row for tomorrow’s race.”
2025 China Sprint Race winner Lewis Hamilton continued his strong start to the season by setting the fourth fastest time ahead of Oscar Piastri, Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Max Verstappen, Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar rounded out the top ten.
“I’m really pleased with how the session went today,” commented Hamilton. “After a tricky practice, the team did a great job getting the car into a much better window, and it felt fantastic to drive in Sprint Quali.
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“There’s still some work to do back in Maranello to find more performance on the straights, which has been our main weakness but we’re strong through the corners, which is encouraging.
“Overall, the car felt good, and tomorrow’s Sprint will be a good opportunity to keep building our weekend.”
There are eight points on offer for the winner of Saturday’s Sprint Race, with points descending all the way down to eighth place.
It could see Russell further extend his championship lead after the Englishman won the season opening Australian Grand Prix.
“Despite our pace, we are cautious of the threat posed by others. We also know that anything can happen during a Sprint race, especially at the start.
“We’ve been working hard with the team on our getaways from the grid and have plenty of learnings from Melbourne.
“We will also need to focus on tyre management as we always see a lot of graining at this track.
“We’ll keep working overnight to ensure a good Sprint race tomorrow but also a successful qualifying session for Sunday’s Grand Prix.”
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Craig Scarborough