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Hamilton on pole position for 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, with Vettel spiltting Merc drivers

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb


Lewis Hamilton has qualified on pole position for the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, making it his 6th successive pole (carrying over from last season), as well as his 6th pole in China, and his 63rd all-time pole, just 5 behind Michael Schumacher's 68. He edged Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by just under two-tenths of a second, who beat fellow Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas by a miniscule one-thousandths of a second.

In Q1, Esteban Ocon of Force India, Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Renault's Jolyon Palmer, Haas' Romain Grosjean and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne were eliminated. The biggest shock of these was Max Verstappen, however, he had an issue with the engine. At the end of the session, however, Sauber's Antonio Giovinazzi crashed on the main straight, and thus it compromised many drivers. Fortunately Giovinazzi was ok. Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer are under investigation for improving their lap times at the end of the session, though no outcome has been announced just yet - as soon as we get the outcome we will announce it on our website.

As a result of Giovinazzi's crash, the start of Q2 was delayed by 10 minutes as they had to repair the tyre barrier. The drivers eliminated were Giovinazzi (who didn't take part in Q2 as a result of his Q1 crash), team-mate Marcus Ericsson, McLaren's Fernando Alonso, Haas' Kevin Magnussen and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz. Williams rookie Lance Stroll made it into Q3 for the first time in his Formula 1 career (or be it this is only his second race weekend).

Then Q3, the top 10 shootout, came. At the end of the first run, Hamilton was fastest, followed by Vettel, Bottas and fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen (who drives for Ferrari). Hamilton did make a slight mistake in his first run, as he had to correct a moment of oversteer, although he was still fastest. Then in the second run Hamilton improved on his first lap time, and set an impressive 1:31.678. Valtteri Bottas then set a 1:31.865 and it was enough to put him in second place ahead of the Ferraris, however, Vettel pipped him to the second by one-thousandth of a second. Kimi Raikkonen qualified fourth, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat and Lance Stroll.

Qualifying classification:

Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes

Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer

Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes

Nico Hulkenberg - Renault

Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes

Daniil Kvyat - STR-Renault

Lance Stroll - Williams-Mercedes

Carlos Sainz - STR-Renault

Kevin Magnussen - Haas-Ferrari

Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Honda

Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari

Antonio Giovinazzi - Sauber-Ferrari

Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren-Honda

Romain Grosjean - Haas-Ferrari

Jolyon Palmer - Renault

Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer

Esteban Ocon - Force India-Mercedes

Note: Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer are under investigation for improving their lap times under yellow flag conditions.


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