Oscar Piastri said qualifying was not going well for him until Q3, when he grabbed pole position.
He was more than four tenths of a second slower than team mate Lando Norris in the first two rounds of qualifying. However while Norris was unable to improve his lap time in Q3, Piastri found over half a second from Q2.
“I think in Q3 I just found a lot of pace,” said Piastri, whose pole position was the first of his career for a grand prix. “In Q1 and Q2, I was genuinely struggling and the car just came alive in Q3 and I think I came alive in Q3.
“So I’m happy with what I did at the end. Even still, the laps were a little bit scruffy, but I’m just pumped to be on pole.”
The Shanghai circuit was resurfaced ahead of this year’s race. The smoother surface has contributed to a significant rise in cornering speeds, and Piastri broke the track record with his pole position lap, setting a time of 1’30.641.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said afterwards. “The new surface is extremely grippy, which for us is the best feeling in the world.
“The only thing that comes with that is when you lose grip, it bites. I think you’ve probably seen a lot of snaps, a lot of moments this weekend, and with the surface we’ve got, it’s pretty tricky. But when you hook it up, it feels pretty mega.”
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However the new surface has also led to a significant increase in tyre graining. Piastri said it will be vital to retain his advantage at the start to ensure he can run in clear air and look after his tyres.
“I’ve obviously got to make sure I keep that clean air,” he said. “But I was pretty happy after the sprint [race]. I think we did the most that we could have. I would have been happier with one spot higher, but how the race turned out, I couldn’t have asked for much more.
“So, I feel like we learned a lot this morning and looking forward to trying to put that into use tomorrow.”
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2025 Chinese Grand Prix
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