Watch all the key moments from qualifying as the grid look to book pole for the Chinese Grand Prix, just hours after an eventful Sprint.
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For more F1® videos, visit https://www.Formula1.com
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SportsTranscript
00:00We go again after the excitement of the sprint. Formula One continues the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, now with Grand Prix qualifying.
00:12Jack Dewan working his way into the middle part of the lap, out of nine and spinning backwards through ten.
00:19Yeah, that just has a sort of look and feel to what we saw in Melbourne. Tyres clearly just not quite there.
00:27Alonso and Charles Leclerc pretty similar through the first sector.
00:30How does it develop through sector two? Two-time world champion across the line to sixth place.
00:35Charles Leclerc now finds himself into turn 16. He's not looked comfortable all the way through.
00:40He's been the second slowest Ferrari all the way through the weekend and now he's second in the order.
00:45Lap when it counts. For the man from Monaco, Charles Leclerc into second.
00:49Yuki Tsunoda goes past our commentary box and he's fastest in a racing bull.
00:55Next to George Russell, who's dropped down to 14th position.
00:58Told by his engineer that this is the lap, that he needs it. He too delivers up to second place.
01:03Norris shuffled down to 12th, but he's just behind and should be about to leap up the order as well.
01:08Hajar goes to the top. The tyres are shuffling like a pack of cards.
01:11Isaac Hajar didn't take the start a week ago. He was momentarily fastest.
01:15He's been replaced by Lando Norris at the front. Drivers under pressure.
01:19Found a lap time, including Carlos Sainz, who improved enormously there when he needed to.
01:25His teammate goes into sixth position. In the drop zone and heading out is Gabriel Bortoletto.
01:29Gasly is down there. Went out in sprint qualifying one. Doesn't want the same thing again.
01:34He's on the brink. He's in 50th.
01:37And Hamilton is not on a lap here. Finds himself down in 11th.
01:42Lawson is down in 19th. Make that 20th. Esteban Ocon finds the time.
01:47Gasly improved, but is now demoted again by his old teammate.
01:51Behrmann didn't get a chance to respond. Doohan goes out. Bortoletto goes out.
01:55And once again, when you get the stopwatch out, inexplicably, it's Liam Lawson in the red bull who's at the back of the pack.
02:05Charles Leclerc down in 10th position. Driver at risk as we progress from Q2 to Q3.
02:11Hamilton up to 6th place. Again, not a lot being found in that third sector at the moment.
02:17Charles Leclerc is pushing on. Joe Guanyu is the third driver for Ferrari this year.
02:22He's been cheered all the way around this racetrack with fan appearances.
02:25And Charles Leclerc goes ahead of Lewis Hamilton up to 6th place.
02:29Both of the Ferraris looking like they'd run out of grip come this final corner here that we join Ocon.
02:36There was no obvious signs of any issue under braking at the hairpin.
02:40Maybe a bit squirrelly, as you mentioned, Julian, through 11, 12, 13.
02:44Ocon's giving himself a chance. Hajar gets the lap that he needs.
02:48He's up to 4th. Antonelli felt the need to go again after a mistake through Turn 1.
02:53Had to bail out of it. Can he get near his teammate? Can he get anywhere close? No, he's at risk.
02:58Alex Albon is currently in 10th, but Antonelli is vulnerable in 9th position.
03:02Fernando Alonso is rotating his Aston Martin through the final corner.
03:06Not enough pace, though. The Astons are out 13th and 14th.
03:10And now Sainz is across the line, and he still can't find a tune from that Williams.
03:16His teammate has managed to get into 10th position, but he is out in the second part of qualifying.
03:22Ocon, Hülkenberg, Alonso ahead of Stroll, and the man you are looking at, Carlos Sainz, the 5 to 4.
03:32Verstappen rotating through the final two corners of the racetrack.
03:36He will want pole number 41 today, and this is his first effort in Q3 across the line.
03:43And he lines up with a 30.9. That's the benchmark for everyone to beat.
03:49And Antonelli brushes the gravel as he comes through, losing a huge amount of time as well.
03:54That's an opportunity for the likes of Isaac Hajar.
03:57One of the big four have had a wide moment. Hajar goes ahead.
04:02He manages to find a time, half a second back from Verstappen.
04:05That's a good effort. Piastri is fast.
04:08Sector 1 and Sector 2, Yuki Tsunoda is behind his rookie teammate after the first push laps in Q3.
04:16This is an absolutely scorching pace for a driver who has never taken a Grand Prix pole.
04:22Oskar Piastri ahead of Max Verstappen, provisionally to the front of the field.
04:28The Ferraris are next up, and then it will be his teammate, Lando Norris, who was mighty quick in Q2.
04:34Lewis Hamilton, what a weekend he is having so far. What a turnaround.
04:39Only third fastest behind the reigning world champion and the Australian McLaren driver.
04:44Next up is Charles Leclerc, who on the balance so far this weekend has been the slower of the two Ferraris.
04:50And the same applies once again. He's three tenths of a second back from Piastri.
04:55What about Lando Norris, though? Can he get on terms? No, he can't.
04:59Despite the fastest final sector so far, he's nine hundredths of a second off.
05:04McLaren 1-2, but it's Piastri ahead of Norris.
05:07There is so much time in that McLaren, but you have to dance on the ragged edge.
05:12George Russell was doing the same thing through the final left-hander that completes the lap.
05:16He splits the Ferraris.
05:19We're setting flying laps at Shanghai International. Max Verstappen, he's looking to improve by over two tenths of a second
05:25and put the pressure on the two McLarens.
05:29Antonelli improves up to seventh position, but we're focusing on pole position.
05:35Leaning on the kerb, giving it everything. Can Verstappen find his way to an improvement?
05:39The answer's no. He stays in third.
05:42Next up, Isaac Hajar in the Racing Bulls climbs back past Antonelli to P7.
05:48A great effort from him, but what about Lando Norris?
05:51He's got one corner to go and he's bailed out of it.
05:54That middle sector wasn't enough. He wasn't improving.
05:57And now it's over to the Ferraris. Piastri on provisional pole.
06:01Can Hamilton snatch it away at the end? There's no improvement for him.
06:05And there's no one out there who's going to be challenging the man from Melbourne
06:09who's pushing on, trying to find something extra.
06:12He does improve his time. Piastri on pole for a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
06:18It's an ordinary middle part of the lap for Charles Leclerc,
06:21who cannot find the balance his teammate has had.
06:24Let's see whether he can find something in the final sector that changes all of that.
06:28The answer is no. The track is not there. The drivers cannot find any performance.
06:33Can George Russell change that narrative at the end and get ahead of his old teammate?
06:37That will surely be his aim. He comes across the line and he gets to the front row.
06:41What a magic effort from George Russell. In the end, he only missed out on eight hundredths of a second.
06:48He split the two McLarens. He's got to the front row.
06:52So that is P1. P1. Well done, mate. Pole position. Great job.
06:57Very nicely done. Thank you. I just had a little scream in my helmet,
07:01so I'll not burst your eardrums, but thanks, everyone.
07:06The top four separated by just over a tenth and a half.
07:10Under two tenths of a second between Verstappen in fourth and a maiden pole position for Oscar Piastri.