Lewis Hamilton says the wet conditions provided him and Mercedes with an opportunity to be more competitive as he secured a front row start for the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix. Mercedes focused on hard tire and high fuel runs in the one free practice session on Friday, but then the team appeared to be struggling on the medium tires in Sprint qualifying. George Russell dropped out in SQ2 with Hamilton just making it through, but a wet SQ3 saw Hamilton excel to take second place behind Lando Norris. “It was very tricky conditions — not a lot of grip, as you saw for everyone,” Hamilton said ..read more

Lando Norris admits he was nervous heading into Sprint qualifying because McLaren was quick in the dry, before setting the fastest time with an “all or nothing” final lap at the Chinese Grand Prix. Teammate Oscar Piastri was second fastest in the only practice session on Friday morning, with Norris set to go comfortably quickest before aborting his best timed lap. However, rain started falling during SQ2 and created extremely slippery conditions for the final part of the session, with Norris overcoming a deleted lap time to lead Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the field by over a second. “I’m e ..read more

Zhou Guanyu admits the pressure at his home race weekend has been extreme, but he responded well in Sprint qualifying for Stake Sauber at the Chinese Grand Prix. China’s first-ever Formula 1 driver is making his debut in front of his home crowd due to Shanghai being off the calendar for five years, despite this being his third season in the sport. Zhou duly delighted a large turnout on Friday by reaching SQ3 for the first time in his career. “Yeah it’s a big relief,” Zhou told Sky Sports. “I’m just really happy for today. It’s a lot of pressure coming into this weekend — of course fans have hi ..read more

Max Verstappen says he was unable to qualify better than fourth for the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix because he struggled for tire temperature in wet conditions. Rain arrived during SQ2 at the Shanghai International Circuit, and left a fully wet track for the final part of the qualifying session as the top-10 drivers secured their starting positions for Saturday’s Sprint. Verstappen went off track on more than one occasion on the low-grip surface, and says he couldn’t extract the grip from his tires as effectively as he qualified behind Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Mor ..read more

Lando Norris will start Saturday’s Shanghai Sprint race from pole position after mastering a wet and wild sprint qualifying session at the Chinese Grand Prix. In soaking-wet conditions Norris was dramatically promoted to top spot when he had a previously deleted lap time reinstated by the stewards. His pole time, a 1m57.940s, had been erased for Norris having run off the track at the last corner on the previous lap. Ordinarily that warrants the deletion of both that lap and the following tour to minimize the risk of a driver gaining an advantage from a mistake. But the treacherously slippery c ..read more

Alpine and Haas have both introduced upgrade packages earlier than initially planned at this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. Alpine is currently last in the constructors’ championship and had targeted Miami for a major upgrade but has managed to bring a new floor to China to try and accelerate its recovery from a poor start to the season. The floor changes are substantial, with heavily revised front floor fences described as providing a “significant change from flow to front of the floor gives an increase in overall downforce.” As part of its floor, Alpine has also made revisions to the floor ed ..read more

Lance Stroll topped an unusual solitary practice session at the Chinese Grand Prix ahead of sprint qualifying later today. Formula 1 hasn’t visited China’s Shanghai International Circuit in five years, in which time little racing has taken place at the 20-year-old circuit. In recent years race organizers had sprayed the bitumen on the circuit surface in an attempt to seal the aging roads in lieu of resurfacing works. There was considerable debate about the effect the bitumen treatment would have on grip levels through the weekend, and the answer appeared to be rapid track evolution after only ..read more

Holding a Formula 1 and MotoGP race on the same weekend as a doubleheader event at Circuit of The Americas is “possible” but not likely, according to circuit chairman Bobby Epstein, although he sees the news of F1 owner Liberty Media’s pending involvement with MotoGP as a big step forward for the sport in the United States. F1’s owners Liberty Media recently announced an agreement to purchase the commercial rights to MotoGP, a move that, if approved by the relevant authorities, would give it control of both the premier world championships in car and motorcycle racing. COTA is one of five venue ..read more

Circuit of The Americas is offering to buy back United States Grand Prix general admission tickets purchased by “early bird” pass holders at more than face value as it prepares to announce its music acts. The “early bird” GA sales period saw tickets sold at $299, but COTA will offer to buy back those tickets at $350 over the coming weeks, with the concert lineup set to be confirmed on April 29. COTA chairman Bobby Epstein says the aim of the initiative is to allow more than 10,000 fans a chance to cash in if they are unable to attend the race or simply want to make a profit on their earlier co ..read more

Lewis Hamilton says he will be racing “well into my 40s” and views Fernando Alonso’s longevity as a sign of how long he can aim to perform at the highest level. Alonso’s new contract with Aston Martin will see him racing in Formula 1 beyond the age of 45, with his deal committing him to driving until at least the end of the 2026 season. The 39-year-old Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of this year to move to Ferrari and sees the new regulations in two seasons’ time as a motivating factor to achieve more success. “I’m going to be racing well into my 40s,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “So it ..read more