Oscar Piastri claimed his first-ever Formula 1 pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix as a late lap from George Russell denied McLaren a front-row lockout.
Piastri ended a 47-weekend wait for a proper F1 pole, having previously only ever topped sprint qualifying.
With "the hairpin of my life" Piastri took pole with a 1m30.641s on his second run in Q3, but before that even his first flying lap had been good enough for pole position.
Team-mate Lando Norris couldn't join him on the front row as he was pipped by Russell at the death in Q3.
Russell ended up 0.082 seconds adrift of Piastri and 0.050s ahead of Australian GP winner Norris, who had to settle for third, adding to a difficult day where he walked away from the sprint with a single point for eighth.
Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull, within a couple of tenths of Piastri's pole.
Ferrari challenge fades
Sprint polesitter and race winner Ferrari was never in the fight for pole in grand prix qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton was once again the faster Ferrari driver but he was nearly three tenths adrift of Piastri's time, with Charles Leclerc a further tenth back.
Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar was the biggest surprise of qualifying. He was faster than Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes and took seventh on the grid - matching the best qualifying of any rookie in 2025 so far.
Hadjar outpaced Racing Bulls team-mate Yuki Tsunoda throughout all three parts of qualifying with the Japanese driver ending up ninth ahead of Alex Albon's Williams.
More pain for Sainz
Carlos Sainz’s difficult start to life at Williams continued as he was slowest in Q2 while team-mate Albon scraped through into Q3.
Sainz suffered a tricky sprint race that was so poor Williams gambled on pitting him and things didn’t get any better come qualifying, where in Q2 he lapped two tenths slower than he'd managed in Q1.
Esteban Ocon fell just 0.030s short of a first Q3 appearance of 2025 but he did make it out of Q1 for the first time this year.
He was 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber (a 2025 personal best) and the two Aston Martins, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Lance Stroll.
Disaster for Lawson (again)
Liam Lawson charging from 20th to 14th in the Saturday sprint race offered some hope of progress but that wasn't followed up in grand prix qualifying.
Just as in sprint qualifying he was 20th and slowest of all, maintaining his 100% record of being knocked out of the first part of qualifying as a Red Bull driver.
Lawson was almost a second slower than the fastest Racing Bulls car of Isack Hadjar in Q1.
Joining him on the sidelines after Q1 was the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly - who drew Lawson's ire for overtaking him right before their final laps - and Jack Doohan (via a spin) in 16th and 18th places respectively.
Ollie Bearman's Haas split the Alpines in 17th after failing to cross the line in time to start a final lap before the end of the session, with Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto suffering his first intra-team qualifying defeat of his F1 career in 19th for Sauber.
Chinese GP qualifying times
1 Piastri (McLaren) 1m30.641s
2 Russell (Mercedes) 1m30.723s
3 Norris (McLaren) 1m30.793s
4 Verstappen (Red Bull) 1m30.817s
5 Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m30.927s
6 Leclerc (Ferrari) 1m31.021s
7 Hadjar (Racing Bulls) 1m31.079s
8 Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m31.103s
9 Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) 1m31.638s
10 Albon (Williams) 1m31.706s
11 Ocon (Haas) 1m31.625s
12 Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1m31.632s
13 Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m31.688s
14 Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m31.773s
15 Sainz (Williams) 1m31.840s
16 Gasly (Alpine) 1m31.992s
17 Bearman (Haas) 1m32.018s
18 Doohan (Alpine) 1m32.092s
19 Bortoleto (Sauber) 1m32.141s
20 Lawson (Red Bull) 1m32.174s
