Lando Norris clinched his second sprint pole position during the F1 Chinese GP sprint shootout in a session that could only be described as chaotic. A wet session on a resurfaced track was always going to be unpredictable, and that’s precisely what happened.
We had Lewis Hamilton nailing his lap which would be good enough for a front-row start for the sprint, we had Fernando Alonso driving brilliantly in his Aston Martin to P3 and then we had both Red Bull and Ferrari struggling to generate temperature into their tires.
The session results came down to who was able to keep the car on the track the best and that’s where Lando Norris excelled. With the sprint shootout done, what did we learn? Let’s take a look.
2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint shootout: Key takeaways
#1 Lando Norris is a wet weather master
The best part about the pole lap from Lando Norris was not the fact that he beat his contemporaries, it was how impressively he did that. His pole position lap already had a compromised start when he went off track, and hence it was not the most ideal start. Yet, he got pole by more than a second.
On the other hand, this laptime does not just come down to the car, as Lando Norris was seconds ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, who is no slouch either. This laptime was just Norris finding the sweet spot in the wet and leaving everyone behind.
#2 Lewis Hamilton turned back the clock
Lewis Hamilton has been missing from the front of the grid for a long time now. The F1 Chinese GP, however, allowed him to put a few wrong things right and that showed.
That lap in some of the most difficult conditions was a sight to behold and showed how big a talent he continues to be.
#3 Red Bull is not infallible
In a dry session, Max Verstappen would have been on pole in all likelihood. The car was strong and once again, just like it has been for some time now, Red Bull in qualifying was a force.
The rain and slippery conditions meant that Max Verstappen somehow was unable to get the temperature into the tires and that cost him a lot. The mistakes were key as well as they showed Max Verstappen can also make mistakes.
The F1 Chinese GP race weekend is not going to be as straightforward as Max would have thought.
#4 The Sauber suits this track
Getting both cars into SQ3 should have turned heads because that was just brilliant for the team. Sauber has been under the pump in the last few years because of a lack of performance on the track and not measuring up to the might of a team that would be Audi in the future.
This result is more like it, as the car appears to suit the F1 Chinese GP track layout.
#5 Daniel Ricciardo will take confidence from that session
Daniel Ricciardo has not had even a single qualifying session where he has outqualified Yuki Tsunoda. This is precisely why, when he did it in the F1 Chinese GP sprint shootout, it meant a lot to him. The Australian needs to take the positives from this and try to build on it.
Edited by Sudeshna Banerjee
