00:00...to be superseded by Yuki Tsunoda a few seconds later.
00:04Bortoletto's first time in China, he was telling me, let alone first time in Shanghai.
00:09And here's Max Verstappen to put a bit of distance between himself and Yuki Tsunoda.
00:149 tenths of a second at the gap.
00:17Yeah, it gave him a little twist under the initial braking,
00:21and it put him slightly wide on the apex,
00:23but he did a nice run around the outside and goes marginally faster than Max Verstappen.
00:28...for the man who has six Grand Prix poles here in Shanghai,
00:31and that is Kimi Hantaneli putting his Mercedes onto the gravel and losing a little bit of time.
00:36Third fastest, still plenty of time to make up for that,
00:40ahead of Isaac Hadjer and behind Verstappen.
00:42Hamilton and now Charles Leclerc, who goes second fastest.
00:45Orlando Norris and Oscar Piastri both on track.
00:49Currently, Liam Lawson goes fifth fastest.
00:52Half a second off the pace, only four tenths off the pace of Max Verstappen.
00:55That'll be a very good confidence run for him.
00:57Nasty exit out of the hairpin.
01:00Orlando Norris climbing the curve.
01:02Let's see if it's cost him or not.
01:04Goes over the line, only P3.
01:07Indeed then, Norris lost a couple of tenths in that final sector.
01:11And Piastri, half a second quicker.
01:1332.7 puts him four tenths behind Max Verstappen.
01:17That'll give him a bit of confidence for his first run.
01:21Now that's...
01:23Russell was on the way, turn 14.
01:26Understood.
01:29And I have to say, it did rather look like George Russell was in the way.
01:33Through the gears.
01:34Slightly blind on the way into the final corner.
01:37Over a little crest.
01:38Tightens through the exit.
01:39Neat and tidy.
01:40Is this enough for Carlos Sainz?
01:43Could be.
01:44It's enough to take him ninth for the time being.
01:46But they're all queuing up behind him, including Isaac Hadjer,
01:49who goes fifth fastest.
01:50And that will certainly be enough for him.
01:52Kimi Antonelli went third fastest while we were watching Carlos Sainz.
01:55We're on board now with Lance Stroll as he crosses the line.
01:58Goes ninth fastest.
02:00And Sainz now down to 11th.
02:02And it's looking a little bit tricky for him.
02:04Sonoda goes ninth fastest.
02:07Liam Lawson has had a lap deleted for track limits.
02:10That might not cost him, because it could have been an outlap.
02:12We're on board now with Oli Behrmann,
02:14who within a tenth of a second is there in touch.
02:17At the moment with his teammate, Esteban Ocon.
02:19Max Verstappen goes fourth fastest as he crosses the line.
02:22Behrmann gets out of SQ1.
02:24Now, Nico Hülkenberg, who had a really impressive qualifying in Australia,
02:28and is very much a man for a performance lap in Formula 1,
02:33will be next to cross the line.
02:35George Russell goes across it now, sixth fastest for him.
02:38Hülkenberg gets no joy whatsoever.
02:42Stays in the bottom five, as does Esteban Ocon.
02:45And that's massive disappointment for him.
02:48But for Oli Behrmann, that is exactly what he would have wanted
02:52after the disappointments of Australia.
02:54For Liam Lawson, that is plumb last.
02:57Hamilton ahead of Norris and Leclerc.
03:00Let's just have a little look here.
03:02Liam Lawson at track limits.
03:05That's where I think he went off the track.
03:08And he aborted his lap.
03:10I don't even think he crossed the line to take that chequered flag.
03:14And we can see off board,
03:16he's clearly gone all four wheels over the white line.
03:19Jack Dewan also had a lap time deleted.
03:24We're not actually getting what the time was that got deleted,
03:27just when it actually happened.
03:29That was Esteban Ocon making his way to the line.
03:33Oh, sliding his way.
03:35Alan working for them, of course.
03:37He's an Audi man, isn't he, from his Le Mans.
03:39Very, very successful Le Mans days with Audi.
03:43That's what it looked like on board with Gabriel Bortoletto.
03:47It looks stylish, but it's not the quickest work.
03:49Lando Norris on a flying lap,
03:52making his way towards the end of his lap.
03:55And ahead of him, Max Verstappen with a 1.31.5,
03:58going four tenths faster than he managed in the first part of qualifying.
04:02And Norris crosses the line with a 1.31.17.
04:06The drivers in the cars are super fast.
04:08Of course, we do have a lovely smooth surface as well for them to work on.
04:12Oh, dear.
04:14Not very grippy for Charles Leclerc, though.
04:16Hacksawing away on the steering wheel there, wasn't he?
04:19It seems as if you can get the tyres in the sweet spot, off you go.
04:23If you can't, you're all at sea.
04:25And you'll be seasick from that one.
04:28Is he going to make his way out of the bottom five?
04:31Yeah, you bet you he is.
04:33Fourth fastest, six tenths off,
04:35but that should be good enough for Yuki Tsunoda
04:37as Hamilton goes quickest in the middle sector.
04:39Stroll now goes fourth fastest,
04:41with a super lap in the Aston Martin.
04:44His teammate, Fernando Alonso, is setting personal bests
04:47as Hamilton goes third fastest.
04:49That's good enough for him.
04:50Alonso after Leclerc.
04:52Leclerc first, goes only fifth fastest.
04:54And Lewis Hamilton starting to really get the bit between his teeth
04:57over his teammate here.
04:59Isaac Hadger's boxed as Alonso goes eighth fastest.
05:02So Hadger is definitely out.
05:04Oli Behrmann goes into the top ten.
05:06As Carlos Sainz stays in the bottom five.
05:09One Williams to go, Alex Albon.
05:12He'll be next to cross the line after Gabriel Bortoletto,
05:15who stays in the bottom five.
05:16Albon crosses the line, goes fifth fastest.
05:19Wow, what a lap from Alex Albon.
05:22That then pushes both Mercedes into that bottom five.
05:25Mercedes, as long as they don't go wide in the last corner,
05:28are about to recover this.
05:30And that looked pretty neat there from Kimi Antonelli
05:32as he crosses the line to go fourth fastest.
05:34And that pushes Oli Behrmann out of the top ten.
05:37Now, can Fernando Alonso stay in the top ten?
05:40Or will it be George Russell?
05:41Russell crosses the line, goes second fastest.
05:44Decent lap from George Russell.
05:46Alonso will have to settle for eleventh of the grid.
05:50The two McLaren drivers nip and tuck all the way through this lap here.
05:54And it's going right down to the line
05:56as Piastri gets a very nice exit out of that final corner.
06:00Opens up the DRS, crosses the line with a 1.30.9.
06:05Now, is that enough to bag provisional pole here?
06:08Norris crosses the line. It is, you know.
06:10Under pressure there, isn't he?
06:12He's at risk of losing more places on the grid.
06:15He's a full four tenths, nearly five tenths slower than his teammate.
06:20There's Antonelli wrestling his Mercedes.
06:23Yeah, he got a bit of a swapper on, did Kimi Antonelli.
06:27And that's cost him a heap of time.
06:29That last sector, you asked the question, Martin,
06:32has he been too hard on his tyres?
06:34The answer, not.
06:35Absolutely not. He was flying in the last sector.
06:38And what happened to Orlando Norris?
06:40This is making his way onto the back straight.
06:42Not just that mistake that loses you time,
06:44but you lose time all the way down the straight.
06:46Neither of the two McLarens getting anywhere near
06:48to Lewis Hamilton's middle sector.
06:50So he is keeping them very honest indeed.
06:53He was on the front row last year, if you remember,
06:55for the sprint in Shanghai.
06:57Hamilton crosses the line now and goes fastest.
07:01He's eight hundredths of a second clear of Oskar Piastri.
07:04Hamilton, with six Grand Prix poles here,
07:06has now got a provisional sprint pole as well.
07:09As Charles Leclerc, two tenths down, comes home for third.
07:13And we turn now to Oskar Piastri,
07:15who crosses the line now and doesn't improve his position,
07:20even though it's a fabulous final sector.
07:22And Orlando Norris hits for McLaren.
07:25Max Verstappen, the man who's taken pole
07:27in half of the 18 sprints that we've had in Formula 1,
07:31comes to the line now and goes second fastest
07:34by 18 one thousandths of a second.
07:37He's ahead of Piastri.
07:38He is behind Hamilton and they're celebrating
07:41at Ferrari for what is Lewis Hamilton's
07:44first ever pole position at his new team
07:47on the track that he's dominated qualifying
07:50and victories over the years.
07:52It's Hamilton on pole and we've said that again
07:54and again and again here in Shanghai.
08:00Really?
08:01Yeah.
08:03Good job, San Diego.
08:08Mega job.
08:24Yeah.
08:54Yeah.
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