Lewis Hamilton in street clothes at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton

 

David Coulthard spilled the beans on a choppy helicopter ride for he and Lewis Hamilton on their way to do an F1 feature for the BBC.

 

Not that Hamilton was aware of it though, as he spent the full thing fast asleep.

 

Lewis Hamilton ‘must have been out partying’

During an appearance on the Red Flags Podcast, 13-time grand prix winner Coulthard was shown a series of memorable photographs and was asked to set the scene for how they came about.

 

One of those was an image of he and Hamilton walking side-by-side in pilot gear, in front of a line of Red Arrows planes, as Coulthard told the story of what was going on.

 

As it turned out, the journey to get to RAF Scampton where that photo was taken was just as eventful!

 

“Well, this was a feature we did for BBC, when I was working for them,” Coulthard began.

 

 

“Red Arrows, which is our display team for the Royal Air Force, we went over to, I think it’s RAF Scampton, and I remember I picked up Lewis in a helicopter in Battersea, which is the only place you can land a helicopter in London.

 

“If you follow Tom Cruise, you’ll see him very often in London getting out of his helicopter, he is usually at Battersea.

 

“And anyway, we took off from Battersea, I sat in the front with the pilot, Lewis was in the back, and he fell asleep. He must have been either out partying or whatever the night before.

 

“And we hit fog on the way to the airfield, and we basically had to put down in a field, in a cornfield, because they knew there was big wind generators between Battersea and getting to the airfield.

 

“And we sat there probably for a good 45 minutes. The whole time Lewis is asleep! We eventually take off. We eventually turn up at the airfield, late. There wasn’t any fog. And then we got to go up with the RAF together.

 

“And then he drove his Formula 1 car in a sort of shootout along the runway. And I have a picture in my office wall here, actually, where I’m in the jet fighter, and he is in the Formula 1 car. And, yeah, it was just a fun experience. It was a great feature.

 

“And then a few years later, I did a feature with Tom Cruise, where he drove the Formula 1 car. And then we did it again with Mark Webber and Steve Jones, where Tom and ourselves drove around Silverstone in Porsche road cars ahead of the Top Gun Maverick launch, and we got to do some of those iconic lines.”

 

Speaking of Tom Cruise, Coulthard expressed his belief that the iconic actor would have been a “very natural fit” for the lead role of the upcoming F1 movie, in which Brad Pitt plays that lead role, portraying ‘Sonny Hayes’.

 

The movie – due to be released June 25, 2025 internationally and June 27 in the United States and Canada – is revolutionary for the fact that filming took place among the real-life F1 action, the Apex GP team taking its place as an unofficial 11th team at race weekends.

 

Seven-time World Champion Hamilton served as a co-producer for the film.

 

“He was on it,” said Coulthard about Cruise during those features, “and you only had to tell him once how all the procedures were.

 

“And I guess that’s because he’s a pilot, you know. A helicopter looks a lot more complicated to operate than a Formula 1 car.

 

“I can’t really recall where he was lap time wise, but he was, to my mind, and with the greatest respect to Brad Pitt, who I don’t know, haven’t met and haven’t seen him drive, I would have thought Tom would have been a very natural fit for the F1 movie in terms of driving and leading man.

 

“But, that’s fallen to Brad, and we’re all curious to see how the movie looks.”

 

Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification in China has raised eyebrows about a rumoured Ferrari flaw.

 

Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese GP

Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car has come under the microscope after a disappointing start to the season.

 

F1’s most iconic team mysteriously struggled for pace all weekend in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc and new signing Lewis Hamilton coming home an underwhelming eighth and 10th.

 

Things appeared to improve at the Chinese Grand Prix when Hamilton converted his first pole position into a commanding sprint race victory, but Ferrari’s challenge faded in regular qualifying and the main grand prix.

 

Leclerc and Hamilton could only finish fifth and sixth on the road but were excluded from the results for different technical infringements which left their respective cars illegal.

 

Hamilton’s disqualification came because his plank was found to have excessive wear by half a millimetre, while Leclerc’s car was 1kg under the 800kg weight limit.

 

Ferrari’s ride height has been a topic of discussion since the first round in Melbourne, where there were whispers in the paddock that the team had to raise their car due to plank wear concerns.

 

The Scuderia have not commented on the rumoured issue but Hamilton’s exclusion in Shanghai has raised eyebrows about a possible fundamental flaw with the SF-25.

 

“It would be standard for everyone to raise the car in Australia because of the bumps and they are detrimental to downforce and plank wear,” Sky Sports F1’s Bernie Collins said.

 

“In Australia, Ferrari were not that strong. Some of it was down to strategy but the performance in qualifying was not that strong, so maybe they have a car that’s very sensitive to ride height in terms of aero performance. All of these cars are because they’re all ground-effect cars, but maybe it is more sensitive than others.

 

“I would be surprised that the Sprint in China was not a good enough indication that you would be illegal on plank wear. If they have got what we would call a ‘peaky’ ride height, which means there’s a very small optimum ride height that you can have a good aerodynamic platform in, that is an issue for a car.

 

“You want to be fit to run a range of ride heights because of all these range of tracks. For example, in Austria there are intense kerbs so you want to add a bit of ride height there.

 

“Maybe the aero platform is too peaky.”

 

Sprint weekend set-up changes not ‘unusual’

Hamilton claimed pole and the sprint win before things went downhill

Hamilton claimed pole and the sprint win before things went downhill

Following a low-key qualifying performance, seven-time world champion Hamilton admitted the set-up changes he made after his sprint win made his Ferrari more difficult to drive around the Shanghai International Circuit.

 

Collins explained it is not “unusual” for teams to make set-up changes over the course of a sprint weekend.

 

“What’s different between this and Austin two years ago [when Hamilton’s Mercedes was excluded for excessive plank wear], you were not allowed to change the set-up between the Sprint and main race, so when you got the plank-wear read in the Sprint, you couldn’t react to it,” she said.

 

“In the Sprint, there was a lot more management than the main race because they did more laps pushing on a hard tyre, whereas on the medium they did a lot of management in the Sprint, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the wear and fuel usage went up in the main race.”

 

Assessing whether Hamilton’s two-stop strategy could have played a role, Collins added: “The two-stopper will lead to pushing more on each lap. The only slight counter to that for Lewis is because he did two stints on the hard, he goes through that graining phase, which does control the pace a little bit.

 

“The only other thing for Lewis is, I don’t know if he had any damage from the Leclerc incident? The FIA say there were ‘no mitigating circumstances’ and if Ferrari could prove damage or lack of downforce, they would have been able to do that but they didn’t.

 

“As for Leclerc, who did a one-stop, people were saying maybe a one-stop was possible. They didn’t know how much the hard tyre would wear, so they didn’t have an estimated mass loss for the hard tyre but they are allowed to take pick-up and they changed Leclerc’s front wing.

 

“I don’t know where the loss in mass has come from.”

 

Bump in the road for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton

It has not been the fairytale start to life at Ferrari Hamilton would have dreamed of

It has not been the fairytale start to life at Ferrari Hamilton would have dreamed of

The double disqualification meant Ferrari lost 18 points in China, marking a huge blow to their title aspirations in both world championships.

 

After just two races, Ferrari find themselves fifth in the constructors’ championship and 61 points behind McLaren, while Leclerc and Hamilton are already well adrift in the drivers’ standings.

 

“It’s a bump because Ferrari had the wrong strategy in Australia, in China they have been disqualified so should have done better, and they arguably had the wrong strategy because Lewis should not have pitted for a second time,” Collins said.

 

“Lewis was really struggling in the car on Sunday and the car was illegal. The changes in set-up didn’t react in the way he wanted to, or he wouldn’t have been so slow in the race, and they’ve been illegal.

 

“So it is a bump. If they go through it and they find whatever’s wrong, then Lewis can get over that pretty quickly. But it’s one of these little things that adds to the lack of trust.

 

“When Sebastian Vettel came to us at Aston Martin, I really wanted him to think we were good at our jobs.

 

“I really wanted him to go ‘if she calls me to pit, I’m going to do it’ because I trust the team. Now we have had a strategy thing, a radio thing and now disqualification, so it makes the driver unsure.”

 

Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc walk together at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc

 

Ferrari has moved to explain the reasons why the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc failed FIA inspections in China.

 

This comes after Leclerc’s SF-25 was found to be underweight, while Hamilton’s skidblock wear was deemed over the permitted limit, with the result being disqualification for both Ferrari drivers from the Chinese Grand Prix.

 

Ferrari explain Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc DQ

Ferrari were looking at a double points finish when the chequered flag flew in Shanghai, Leclerc having crossed the line P5 and Hamilton P6.

 

However, their tally for Grand Prix Sunday became zero when both cars were disqualified after the race.

 

And in a statement, Ferrari has explained what happened to cause these different issues for their drivers, which both inflicted a disqualification penalty.

 

“Following the FIA post-race scrutineering both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons,” Ferrari began.

 

 

“Car 16 [Leclerc] was found to be underweight by 1 kg and car 44’s [Hamilton’s] rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5mm below the limit.

 

“Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight.

 

“With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin.

 

“There was no intention to gain any advantage. We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.

 

“Clearly it’s not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering.”

 

Leclerc’s DSQ closely resembles the fate suffered by Mercedes’ George Russell at last season’s Belgian Grand Prix.

 

 

Russell thought he had pulled off a one-stop strategy against all odds to take victory, but after the race his car was found to be underweight.

 

A leading theory at the time was that the unexpected one-stop had contributed to higher-than-expected tyre wear and thus an underweight car, as Ferrari say happened to Leclerc in China.

 

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen landed the first big blow against the dominant McLaren team in Formula 1 in 2025 to head sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

 

The seven-time champion looked competitive in the intra-Ferrari fight on Friday at Shanghai, but his pole still came as a surprise given McLaren looked to have enjoyed a decisive margin through practice and the first two segments of sprint qualifying on medium tyres.

 

Yet in the end it was Hamilton and Verstappen who were 0.018s apart in the fight for pole, while the McLarens came up short on softs in the final shootout.

 

SQ3 drama

 

Two messy laps from championship leader Lando Norris left the door open for McLaren to be beaten – though it was team-mate Oscar Piastri who led that final segment, SQ3, initially.

 

But Piastri’s second attempt was short of an improvement despite a strong final sector, and he was usurped by Hamilton – consistently quicker than Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc through all of sprint qualifying.

 

 

Mark Hughes: Over-confident McLaren handed Hamilton pole

A last-gasp dash for pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came up just short despite a superb final sector, leaving Piastri – eighth hundredths off – to settle for third.

 

Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell completed the top five.

 

A lock-up into the Turn 14 hairpin meant Norris had to abandon his final attempt and dive into the pits so ended up a disappointing sixth, although well clear of seventh-placed Kimi Antonelli. The rookie was close to Mercedes team-mate Russell through SQ1 and SQ2, but his sole push lap on softs just didn’t come together.

 

Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

 

Lawson’s woes exacerbated

 

Liam Lawson being just four tenths off his decorated team-mate Verstappen after his first SQ1 attempt was cause for optimism – but when his follow-up didn’t come together, it meant not just elimination but the embarrassment of last place on the grid.

 

“Lawson’s moment had echoes of Verstappen team-mates past. When Verstappen is your benchmark, life is difficult.”

 

He was already off the pace through the first sector, then got sideways on the kerb coming out of Turn 9, forced to abandon the lap and his hopes of reaching SQ2.

 

He told race engineer Richard Wood afterwards that he was “really sorry but I just honestly could not get the tyres [presumably temperature] down”.

 

Disillusion for Alonso and Sainz

 

Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso was the biggest surprise to drop out in SQ2 – due to having been notably fast in the first segment.

 

He was 0.021s off advancing into the top 10, and will be joined on the sixth row in the sprint by Ollie Bearman, whose stellar qualifying effort flickered life into what has otherwise been a brutal start to 2025 so far for Haas.

 

Carlos Sainz was badly adrift of Williams team-mate Albon – some eight tenths in SQ2 – and was only faster than Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto of those to log a lap in that second segment.

 

Bortoleto’s fellow rookie Isack Hadjar never set a time, having matched up well with Racing Bulls team-mate Tsunoda in SQ1 – but then botching the entry to Turn 1 on his sole attempt in the second segment and thus resigning himself to no laptime at all.

 

He did then tow Tsunoda, which may well have been crucial to that aforementioned 0.021s margin separating the Japanese and Alonso.

 

Other SQ1 exits

 

Alpine – which has acknowledged that it’s had to make modifications due to the rear wing flexibility technical directive coming in from this weekend – had both of its drivers eliminated in the first segment. But rookie Jack Doohan did back up what had looked like strong Melbourne pace by beating team-mate Pierre Gasly – largely on the strength of his first sector relative to Gasly’s.

 

Esteban Ocon was a hundredths back from his past team-mate Gasly, but will have been more discouraged by the comparison to current team-mate Bearman – who beat him by four tenths.

 

Part of that will have been in the final corner, where Ocon brushed the gravel trap – but the Frenchman also queried with Haas whether the car was okay was it was “difficult to drive”.

 

Nico Hulkenberg looked on to progress comfortably after his first SQ1 attempt but ran out of laptime on his final try, and sounded genuinely shocked at being eliminated – but did beat Lawson.

 

 

Sprint qualifying result

Pos Name Car Q1 Q2 Q3

1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1m31.212s 1m31.384s 1m30.849s

2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m31.916s 1m31.521s 1m30.867s

3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.723s 1m31.362s 1m30.929s

4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m31.518s 1m31.561s 1m31.057s

5 George Russell Mercedes 1m31.952s 1m31.346s 1m31.169s

6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.396s 1m31.174s 1m31.393s

7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1m31.999s 1m31.475s 1m31.738s

8 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.316s 1m31.794s 1m31.773s

9 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 1m32.462s 1m31.539s 1m31.852s

10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.327s 1m31.742s 1m31.982s

11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.121s 1m31.815s

12 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1m32.269s 1m31.978s

13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1m32.457s 1m32.325s

14 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.539s 1m32.564s

15 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.171s

16 Jack Doohan Alpine-Renault 1m32.575s

17 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1m32.640s

18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1m32.651s

19 Nico Hülkenberg Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.675s

20 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m32.729s

Hamilton ‘a bit gobsmacked’ by early Ferrari F1 pole

Mar 21, 2025

by Josh Suttill

Lewis Hamilton was left “a bit gobsmacked” by earning pole position for Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix sprint race in only his second weekend with Ferrari.

 

Mistakes from McLaren opened the door but Hamilton demonstrated strong pace throughout Friday in Shanghai, topping SQ1 and then setting a new lap record in SQ3 to take pole position.

 

It was the perfect follow-up to a challenging first weekend in Australia where Hamilton and Ferrari fell short of their own expectations, with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton eighth and 10th at the flag.

 

“The last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car but we just weren’t able to extract it,” Hamilton explained in parc ferme after taking pole by 0.018 seconds over Max Verstappen.

 

 

“So to come here to a track that I love – Shanghai, [it’s a] beautiful place and the weather’s been amazing – and the car really came alive from lap one.

 

“We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe it’s actually…we got a pole in the sprint.”

 

That shock hadn’t left Hamilton by the time he’d made his way to the media pen for further interviews.

 

“I’m just a bit gobsmacked honestly, I’m a bit taken back by it, I didn’t know when we’d get to this position,” Hamilton said.

 

 

What’s already changing for Hamilton’s second race with Ferrari

“After last weekend it was a difficult start to the week, I came here with aggression and wanted to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place.We started out straight away with a better feeling in the car.

 

“I can’t believe we’re at the front and ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, the last race and even today.

 

“I’m really grateful to just be up there fighting with these great drivers and be so close to these other teams.”

 

It might not be a ‘proper’ grand prix pole position but Hamilton delivering a turn of speed in a competitive session so early into life at Ferrari will give him plenty of confidence.

 

“Even though it’s not the main pole it gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow and find more performance and see if we can compete again,” he added.

 

Team boss Fred Vasseur maintained a typically calm reaction, joking with Sky Sports F1 that he “always sees the negative side”.

 

 

He cautioned “it’s still difficult to read and understand” the competitive picture and said Ferrari “still has work to do” but did say it was a “good feeling” after the team struggled throughout the Australia weekend.

 

He believed tyres once again explained the big pecking order swing versus last weekend.

 

“Shocked is not the right word, but it’s true that the day was a bit difficult to read that McLaren was in front this morning, and Q1 we were in front, Q2 they were mega, and Q3 we are right on the pace,” Vasseur said.

 

“I think it is linked to the tyre management. If you are not in the right window you are struggling a lot, but it is good for us as a team, for Lewis, for everybody.

 

“I know it is not quali of the race today, I know that we didn’t score points today. I know all this at least, but it’s a good step.

 

“It is up and down not just for us, but for everybody – it is exactly the same as the last four races last year when you had four teams able to win by 30 seconds track to track depending on the tyres.”

 

 

McLaren dominated practice and looked well set in SQ2 only to falter during the pole position shootout.

 

Third place Oscar Piastri said McLaren “was quick at the wrong points” of qualifying.

 

“In SQ3 we tried something a bit different and went out much earlier and did two laps, which I’m not sure was the best thing in the end,” Piastri said.

 

“But something we need to look at. The pace in the car is still very strong and I’m still confident to fight from third.”

 

Lando Norris was kicking himself for the lock-up at the Turn 14 hairpin that forced him to abort his final SQ3 run, leaving him down in sixth place.

 

 

“I made a mistake, locked up [at the hairpin] and we struggled a bit more now. Not quick enough simply, struggled a lot with the car,” Norris said.

 

“Our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with, we struggled a lot more with today. Nothing more than that. Too many mistakes, too difficult a car to drive.”

 

Norris said this weekend has been “a lot more aligned with Bahrain” testing, where the McLarens also struggled to deliver strong one-lap speed with a quick car that can easily bite the drivers.

 

Norris conceded it was down to him to not overdrive the car to get more out of grand prix qualifying on Saturday.

 

“That’s more me rather than the car, I can’t make the car perfect, this was me just trying to push a bit too much,” Norris said of avoiding a repeat of his errors later in the weekend.

 

“So more just need to back off a little bit and not try push so much. I think the car is still in a good window, maybe not good enough for pole but we can definitely go for it.”

 

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen landed the first big blow against the dominant McLaren team in Formula 1 in 2025 to head sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

 

The seven-time champion looked competitive in the intra-Ferrari fight on Friday at Shanghai, but his pole still came as a surprise given McLaren looked to have enjoyed a decisive margin through practice and the first two segments of sprint qualifying on medium tyres.

 

Yet in the end it was Hamilton and Verstappen who were 0.018s apart in the fight for pole, while the McLarens came up short on softs in the final shootout.

 

SQ3 drama

 

Two messy laps from championship leader Lando Norris left the door open for McLaren to be beaten – though it was team-mate Oscar Piastri who led that final segment, SQ3, initially.

 

But Piastri’s second attempt was short of an improvement despite a strong final sector, and he was usurped by Hamilton – consistently quicker than Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc through all of sprint qualifying.

 

 

Mark Hughes: Over-confident McLaren handed Hamilton pole

A last-gasp dash for pole from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came up just short despite a superb final sector, leaving Piastri – eighth hundredths off – to settle for third.

 

Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell completed the top five.

 

A lock-up into the Turn 14 hairpin meant Norris had to abandon his final attempt and dive into the pits so ended up a disappointing sixth, although well clear of seventh-placed Kimi Antonelli. The rookie was close to Mercedes team-mate Russell through SQ1 and SQ2, but his sole push lap on softs just didn’t come together.

 

Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

 

 

 

Liam Lawson being just four tenths off his decorated team-mate Verstappen after his first SQ1 attempt was cause for optimism – but when his follow-up didn’t come together, it meant not just elimination but the embarrassment of last place on the grid.

 

“Lawson’s moment had echoes of Verstappen team-mates past. When Verstappen is your benchmark, life is difficult.”

 

He was already off the pace through the first sector, then got sideways on the kerb coming out of Turn 9, forced to abandon the lap and his hopes of reaching SQ2.

 

He told race engineer Richard Wood afterwards that he was “really sorry but I just honestly could not get the tyres [presumably temperature] down”.

 

Disillusion for Alonso and Sainz

 

Aston Martin veteran Fernando Alonso was the biggest surprise to drop out in SQ2 – due to having been notably fast in the first segment.

 

He was 0.021s off advancing into the top 10, and will be joined on the sixth row in the sprint by Ollie Bearman, whose stellar qualifying effort flickered life into what has otherwise been a brutal start to 2025 so far for Haas.

 

Carlos Sainz was badly adrift of Williams team-mate Albon – some eight tenths in SQ2 – and was only faster than Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto of those to log a lap in that second segment.

 

Bortoleto’s fellow rookie Isack Hadjar never set a time, having matched up well with Racing Bulls team-mate Tsunoda in SQ1 – but then botching the entry to Turn 1 on his sole attempt in the second segment and thus resigning himself to no laptime at all.

 

He did then tow Tsunoda, which may well have been crucial to that aforementioned 0.021s margin separating the Japanese and Alonso.

 

 

 

Alpine – which has acknowledged that it’s had to make modifications due to the rear wing flexibility technical directive coming in from this weekend – had both of its drivers eliminated in the first segment. But rookie Jack Doohan did back up what had looked like strong Melbourne pace by beating team-mate Pierre Gasly – largely on the strength of his first sector relative to Gasly’s.

 

Esteban Ocon was a hundredths back from his past team-mate Gasly, but will have been more discouraged by the comparison to current team-mate Bearman – who beat him by four tenths.

 

Part of that will have been in the final corner, where Ocon brushed the gravel trap – but the Frenchman also queried with Haas whether the car was okay was it was “difficult to drive”.

 

Nico Hulkenberg looked on to progress comfortably after his first SQ1 attempt but ran out of laptime on his final try, and sounded genuinely shocked at being eliminated – but did beat Lawson.

 

 

Sprint qualifying result

Pos Name Car Q1 Q2 Q3

1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1m31.212s 1m31.384s 1m30.849s

2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m31.916s 1m31.521s 1m30.867s

3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.723s 1m31.362s 1m30.929s

4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m31.518s 1m31.561s 1m31.057s

5 George Russell Mercedes 1m31.952s 1m31.346s 1m31.169s

6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1m31.396s 1m31.174s 1m31.393s

7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1m31.999s 1m31.475s 1m31.738s

8 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.316s 1m31.794s 1m31.773s

9 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 1m32.462s 1m31.539s 1m31.852s

10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.327s 1m31.742s 1m31.982s

11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1m32.121s 1m31.815s

12 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1m32.269s 1m31.978s

13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1m32.457s 1m32.325s

14 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.539s 1m32.564s

15 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT 1m32.171s

16 Jack Doohan Alpine-Renault 1m32.575s

17 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1m32.640s

18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1m32.651s

19 Nico Hülkenberg Kick Sauber-Ferrari 1m32.675s

20 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1m32.729s

Hamilton ‘a bit gobsmacked’ by early Ferrari F1 pole

Mar 21, 2025

by Josh Suttill

Lewis Hamilton was left “a bit gobsmacked” by earning pole position for Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix sprint race in only his second weekend with Ferrari.

 

Mistakes from McLaren opened the door but Hamilton demonstrated strong pace throughout Friday in Shanghai, topping SQ1 and then setting a new lap record in SQ3 to take pole position.

 

It was the perfect follow-up to a challenging first weekend in Australia where Hamilton and Ferrari fell short of their own expectations, with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton eighth and 10th at the flag.

 

“The last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car but we just weren’t able to extract it,” Hamilton explained in parc ferme after taking pole by 0.018 seconds over Max Verstappen.

 

 

“So to come here to a track that I love – Shanghai, [it’s a] beautiful place and the weather’s been amazing – and the car really came alive from lap one.

 

“We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe it’s actually…we got a pole in the sprint.”

 

That shock hadn’t left Hamilton by the time he’d made his way to the media pen for further interviews.

 

“I’m just a bit gobsmacked honestly, I’m a bit taken back by it, I didn’t know when we’d get to this position,” Hamilton said.

 

 

What’s already changing for Hamilton’s second race with Ferrari

“After last weekend it was a difficult start to the week, I came here with aggression and wanted to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place.We started out straight away with a better feeling in the car.

 

“I can’t believe we’re at the front and ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, the last race and even today.

 

“I’m really grateful to just be up there fighting with these great drivers and be so close to these other teams.”

 

It might not be a ‘proper’ grand prix pole position but Hamilton delivering a turn of speed in a competitive session so early into life at Ferrari will give him plenty of confidence.

 

“Even though it’s not the main pole it gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow and find more performance and see if we can compete again,” he added.

 

Team boss Fred Vasseur maintained a typically calm reaction, joking with Sky Sports F1 that he “always sees the negative side”.

 

 

He cautioned “it’s still difficult to read and understand” the competitive picture and said Ferrari “still has work to do” but did say it was a “good feeling” after the team struggled throughout the Australia weekend.

 

He believed tyres once again explained the big pecking order swing versus last weekend.

 

“Shocked is not the right word, but it’s true that the day was a bit difficult to read that McLaren was in front this morning, and Q1 we were in front, Q2 they were mega, and Q3 we are right on the pace,” Vasseur said.

 

“I think it is linked to the tyre management. If you are not in the right window you are struggling a lot, but it is good for us as a team, for Lewis, for everybody.

 

“I know it is not quali of the race today, I know that we didn’t score points today. I know all this at least, but it’s a good step.

 

“It is up and down not just for us, but for everybody – it is exactly the same as the last four races last year when you had four teams able to win by 30 seconds track to track depending on the tyres.”

 

Where McLaren faltered

 

McLaren dominated practice and looked well set in SQ2 only to falter during the pole position shootout.

 

Third place Oscar Piastri said McLaren “was quick at the wrong points” of qualifying.

 

“In SQ3 we tried something a bit different and went out

 

Ferrari have signed their fair share of Formula 1 world champions over the years but none have arrived to as much fanfare and with as many trophies to their name as Lewis Hamilton.

 

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are the only two seven-time world champions in the history of F1 but were signed by Ferrari at very different points in their career.

 

Schumacher was the most exciting driver on the grid when he was signed from Benetton for the 1996 season and had just won back-to-back championships.

 

He brought legendary designer Rory Byrne and technical chief Ross Brawn with him and together they built a dynasty that saw Schumacher win five titles on the bounce at the beginning of the 2000s.

 

Hamilton has embraced Ferrari’s culture immediately but has joined the Scuderia with the majority of his racing career already behind him.

 

Ferrari have been impressed with Hamilton behind the scenes but immediate success on the track is much harder to discover.

 

Legendary F1 driver Jackie Stewart may have the answer for Hamilton if he looks back on how Schumacher’s arrival in Maranello was approached nearly 30 years ago.

 

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher of Germany celebrates on the Podium after winning the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix held at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Mandatory Credit: Mark Thompson /Allsport

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher of Germany celebrates on the Podium after winning the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix held at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Mandatory Credit: Mark Thompson /Allsport

 

Lewis Hamilton must embrace Jackie Stewart’s advice for Michael Schumacher about racing for Ferrari

Schumacher’s move to Ferrari was confirmed in 1995 and speaking to Australian broadcaster Channel 9, Stewart was asked to give the German some advice.

 

Stewart, who had three world championships to his name and had seen plenty of champions come and go from Ferrari in his time, explained: “The latest two-time world champion Michael Schumacher is going to Ferrari next year.

 

“He’s a brave man. Why? The last time Ferrari won a world championship was 1979,16 years ago.

 

“We’ve had 250 Grand Prix since then, before him it was another tough man called Niki Lauda, a real tough man and it was he who kicked Ferrari into place to make sure they would do what he wanted to win two world championships.

 

CATEGORY VOL. RANK

Races 246 1st

Championships 6 1st

Race wins 84 1st

Pole positions 78 1st

Podiums 153 1st

Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, 2013-2024

“Before him, if you think of other really tough men, it was Juan Manuel Fangio, the great five-time world champion. He only won it once [with Ferrari], John Surtees did win a world championship for Ferrari.

 

“But Alain Prost failed, as did Nigel Mansell fail in a Ferrari. Why, because they’re a very obstinate team, they want it their way.

 

“They’ve had a number of great drivers like Mario Andretti and I counted names that have been put out of business driving for Ferrari.

 

“And if a young driver like Jean Alesi went to Ferrari, they overcrowded them, they pushed them around, simply because they knew best.

 

“Can Michael Schumacher do it? I think he probably can. The reason, he’s German, he’s very dogmatic, he knows exactly what he wants and he’s one of the people who might be able to bring Ferrari back to victory.

 

“But to do that, he’s going to have to be very arrogant and very tough and he’s going to have to bring this team together like they haven’t been brought together for the last 16 years.”

 

Michael Schumacher had one thing on his side at Ferrari that Lewis Hamilton can’t rely on

There are certainly similarities to how Schumacher and Hamilton were signed by Ferrari.

 

They were both the biggest names in the sport when the move happened and had developed a reputation beyond Formula 1.

 

However, as Stewart explained, Schumacher had to make the team his own and bringing in Byrne and Brawn – plus the constant stream of drivers happy to be his number two – allowed him to dominate for years.

 

Rubens Barrichello was the perfect teammate for Schumacher but Hamilton doesn’t have that luxury given Charles Leclerc’s world championship aspirations.

 

 

Michael Schumacher’s Formula 1 record

The likes of Jerome d’Ambrosio and Loic Serra have arrived from Mercedes with Hamilton but they weren’t specifically signed for him and closer allies such as Peter Bonnington were blocked from signing for Ferrari.

 

Schumacher raced for four seasons for Ferrari before winning his first title, time that Hamilton probably doesn’t have.

 

He’ll need to find a shortcut to success but making Ferrari his team as quickly as possible has to be the priority.