After winning the Sprint Race in the morning, Lewis Hamilton finished in fifth place in the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix, while Charles Leclerc took sixth.
It was a Saturday to remember for Lewis Hamilton, who, in the Italian night, claimed victory in the Sprint Race after starting from pole position. A race dominated from start to finish by the British driver of Ferrari, who, however, couldn’t go beyond fifth place in the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc had a more fragmented qualifying session and ultimately finished behind his teammate, 380 thousandths of a second behind Oscar Piastri, who took pole position. Both Ferraris will start from the third row, having possibly made changes to counteract race degradation.
Here are Lewis Hamilton’s statements after the qualifying session: “I could have been a couple of tenths higher, but I struggled a lot to find the balance of the car this afternoon. What changed compared to yesterday? Everyone else improved. We made a couple of changes, some small adjustments to the car, but in the end, we had a lot more oversteer.” “.
Charles Leclerc finished in fifth place in the Sprint Race, making up positions in the final laps, but couldn’t go beyond sixth place in qualifying. The Monegasque appeared to have difficulty handling the SF-25, and at the end of the session, he spoke to the press: “I think the others improved, and we didn’t quite improve as much. Today, it was clear that we were struggling more because yesterday I wasn’t happy at all with the lap I had done, whereas today I’m much more satisfied with how we put things together. As I said after the Sprint Race, I didn’t expect a miracle because I struggle on this track, but compared to how I felt, I managed to put more or less everything I had into this lap. Unfortunately, there’s not much more to give, which is a shame.” “.
Charles then added: ““Lewis has been very strong this weekend, but we need to be careful because there’s a big difference between being at the front with clean air and being where I was, in traffic with dirty air. I think we’ll struggle more in the race to show the pace we had this morning. What’s positive? Well, winning the Sprint Race is a positive, but looking ahead, I believe it will be a tough race.” “.
Photo: X Scuderia Ferrari