F1 Chinese GP: Verstappen claims Red Bull's 100th pole over Perez

The championship leader had rarely looked beatable throughout the session and ploughed a lonely furrow in pursuit of pole position, particularly as nobody had been able to beat his opening 1m33.977s effort - let alone his ultimate pole lap.

This set up a thrilling battle to join him on the front row, however, and a series of contenders all staked their claim to start at the front. Fernando Alonso ended the first runs with the second-best lap time, but the second cycle precipitated further improvements.

Carlos Sainz, who recovered from a Q2 crash, initially popped up onto the front row, but was succeeded by Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri beat them in turn before Lando Norris relegated his team-mate, but Alonso then briefly reclaimed his earlier position.

But Perez broke into the 1m33s to seal a Red Bull 1-2, knocking Alonso down to the second row of the grid - where he starts alongside Norris.

Piastri starts fifth alongside Leclerc, while Sainz joins George Russell on the fourth row as the Briton was Mercedes' sole representative in the top half of the field.

Nico Hulkenberg broke into Q3 and starts Sunday's race from ninth, with Valtteri Bottas completing the top 10.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, spins (Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images)

Q2 was interrupted by a red flag as Sainz clipped the gravel with his rear tyres on the exit of the final corner and spun, ending up in the wall on the opposite end of the circuit. It looked as though the Spaniard was going to be unable to fire his car up again, but he scooped his car out of its resting place and coaxed it back into the pits.

Sainz managed to not only get back on track, but escaped the Q2 drop zone with a significant margin to book his place into the final stage of qualifying.

Lance Stroll was dumped out in the final moments as Bottas shrugged off his place in the drop zone with a time good enough for 10th, while Daniel Ricciardo's place in the top 10 had been brief as Leclerc put the Australian back into the drop zone, where he shook out in 12th.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly sandwiched Alex Albon, as neither Alpine nor the sole remaining Williams could break out of Q2.

Lewis Hamilton proved to be the biggest scalp eliminated in Q1 in a frantic end to the opening stage as the magnitude of track evolution had been considerable, although the seven-time champion could not benefit after a lock-up at Turn 14.

Having sought to break out of the drop zone, his final lap left Hamilton looking precarious at best ahead of a final deluge of runs in 12th, but further improvements enforced his subsequent plummet.

Sparks kick up from the rear of Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15 (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

Gasly ultimately tipped Hamilton into the bottom five with his own escape from the drop, and both local hero Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen also fell into the elimination zone despite briefly finding safety in an ever-changing session - Zhou also snatching at the front wheels into Turn 14 on the brakes.

Yuki Tsunoda faced a brief DRS issue and, although this was ultimately fixed, the Japanese driver could not break out of Q1 despite feeling his lap was good. Logan Sargeant suffered a spin on his way to the bottom of Sunday's grid.

F1 Chinese GP - Qualifying results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'33.660	209.519
2	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.322 1'33.982	208.801
3	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+0.488 1'34.148	208.433
4	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.505 1'34.165	208.395
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.613 1'34.273	208.157
6	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.629 1'34.289	208.121
7	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.637 1'34.297	208.104
8	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.773 1'34.433	207.804
9	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	+0.944 1'34.604	207.428
10	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.005 1'34.665	207.295
11	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.178 1'34.838	206.917
12	D. Ricciardo RB	3		RB	Red Bull	+1.274 1'34.934	206.707
13	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	+1.563 1'35.223	206.080
14	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+1.581 1'35.241	206.041
15	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+1.803 1'35.463	205.562
16	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	+1.845 1'35.505	205.471
17	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	+1.856 1'35.516	205.448
18	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	+1.913 1'35.573	205.325
19	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	+2.086 1'35.746	204.954
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	+2.698 1'36.358	203.653
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