Five winners and five losers from F1 Chinese Grand Prix qualifying

With the F1 sprint race out of the way, focus turned onto the important matter of qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

It was an incredibly close battle for pole position, featuring some late surprises, as the grid order was determined for Sunday’s grand prix in Shanghai.

As always, some drivers were delighted, while others were left disappointed by their efforts.

Here are our winners and losers from a thrilling qualifying in China.

Winner - Oscar Piastri and McLaren

McLaren will be pleased with their qualifying result after turning things around following a difficult Friday and sprint race on Saturday morning.

A brilliant maiden F1 career pole for Oscar Piastri puts him in prime position to win and put the disappointment of his home race firmly behind him. It was worth the 47-weekend wait for the Australian, who produced two laps which were ultimately good enough to top qualifying.

Teammate Lando Norris couldn’t join him on the front row as George Russell pipped his fellow Briton at the death in Q3, but McLaren returned to form after being left puzzled by their lack of pace in Friday’s sprint qualifying.

Loser - Liam Lawson

It is fast turning into another weekend to forget for Liam Lawson in China.

Lawson’s nightmare start to his Red Bull career continued as he qualified last for the second consecutive day, with another Q1 elimination further increasing the rapidly-growing pressure on his shoulders. To rub salt into the wounds, he was 0.750s slower than teammate Max Verstappen.

After another wretched day behind the wheel of the RB21, the 23-year-old Kiwi admitted “I don’t really have time” to find confidence and arrest his current struggles in one of F1’s most unforgiving environments.

Winner - George Russell

Russell left it late to put his Mercedes on the front row, turning in a sublime lap to deny McLaren another 1-2 in qualifying.

Russell ended up just 0.082s adrift of Piastri and 0.050s ahead of Norris to split the McLarens and grab a position that didn’t really look on the cards for much of the session.

But Russell once again impressed over one lap, extracting everything and more from his W16 to secure his first front-row start of the year with a lap which exceeded Mercedes’ expectations.

Loser - Lando Norris

It may seem a little harsh to class Norris as a loser given he starts third on the grid and still has every chance of making it back-to-back wins to further extend his lead in the F1 drivers’ championship.

But Norris himself admitted after qualifying that he has underperformed so far in China. McLaren clearly has the fastest car, but Norris was left to rue more mistakes in Shanghai as he had to settle with the second row.

It follows up a messy Friday and sprint race, in which he made a key error which dropped him positions. P3 is by no means a bad result, but it marks a missed opportunity for Norris to capitalise on the competitiveness of his McLaren.

Winner - Max Verstappen

Verstappen continues to outperform his Red Bull and will be rightly happy to take fourth on the grid, especially when you consider where his teammate ended up.

Verstappen may be worried Red Bull are the slowest of all the top teams, yet he remains right in contention as he continues to limit the damage. After all, he was only 0.176s shy of pole and still outqualiied both Ferraris - who have a car he considers to be quicker than his RB21.

The Dutchman will start alongside early title rival Norris and will sense an opportunity to potentially take the lead of the championship for the first time this year.

Loser - Ferrari

Ferrari’s challenge disappointingly faded on Saturday in Shanghai after claiming both the pole and race win in the sprint.

Having made such a positive start to the weekend, Ferrari were never in the fight for pole in regular grand prix qualifying. Lewis Hamilton continued to be the faster Ferrari driver but was only fifth, one place ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton revealed after qualifying that Ferrari changes made his car tricker to drive, while Leclerc was left concerned that Ferrari’s display was a true indication of their current performance levels.

Winner - Racing Bulls

Isack Hadjar bounced back from his Melbourne heartbreak to be the surprise star of qualifying in Shanghai, as he outpaced Kimi Antonelli to take seventh on the grid. P7 matches the best qualifying result of any of F1 2025’s rookie crop so far.

Yuki Tsunoda was slower than the impressive Hadjar in all three parts of qualifying but ninth place means Racing Bulls are in a strong position to score their first points of the season after a big missed opportunity last time out.

Loser - Carlos Sainz

It has been a tricky start to life at Williams for Carlos Sainz, who was the slowest driver in Q2 and will line up only 15th.

Following a difficult sprint race, failing to join teammate Alex Albon in Q3 added to what is turning out to be a disappointing weekend for the four-time grand prix winner. Sainz will have his work cut out to score points on Sunday.

Winner - Estaban Ocon

Haas have endured a truly torrid start to 2025 but Esteban Ocon’s performance in qualifying will have raised the mood in the camp.

The Frenchman advanced out of Q1 for the first time this season and displayed encouraging pace in his VF-25, falling just 0.030s short of what would have been a first Q3 appearance for Haas this year.

From P11, Ocon and Haas have a great chance to challenge the top-10 and potentially get off the mark.

Loser - Alpine

Alpine entered the campaign being tipped as potential front-of-the-midfield challengers, but the French outfit look well short of that based on a dreadful qualifying in China.

Both Alpine cars were dumped out in Q1, with Pierre Gasly only 16th and F1 rookie Jack Doohan down in 18th after a spin that will do little to ease the pressure he finds himself under.