McLaren error in Ferrari sprint qualifying battle identified

The error which cost McLaren and helped Ferrari on Friday in China has been pointed out.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position in sprint qualifying at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was third, while Lando Norris (who topped the sole practice session of the weekend beforehand) was restricted to sixth.

Sky Sports’ Karun Chandhok praised Ferrari’s turnaround since a drab round in Australia last weekend: “It’s impressive what the team have done.

“They looked there or thereabouts in Free Practice but it went away in qualifying in Melbourne.

“Here, we haven’t got McLaren on the front row. That’s the thing.

“We had George Russell walk in and say ‘McLaren will blitz it, they can stop development!’

“Everyone said McLaren were the favourites. “But we haven’t got a McLaren on the front row.

“We have got Hamilton v Max Verstappen which will be fun to watch.”

McLaren error in China identified

Ex-race strategist Bernie Collins spotted what went wrong for McLaren, who were tipped to have the fastest car in China after a great start to 2025 last weekend in Melbourne.

“They have got analysis to do,” she warned.

“When we look at just SQ3, every other team went for a single lap. McLaren were the only drivers to go for the push, cool, push.”

A push, cool, push strategy in an F1 qualifying session asks a driver to push for a fast time on one lap, then to cool his tyres on the next, before pushing again.

But it didn’t work on Friday for McLaren in China.

“Piastri’s lap looked so strong at the beginning of the SQ3 session,” Collins analysed.

“But with the track temperature dropping, and it still improving a bit, perhaps in hindsight that wasn’t the way to go.

“They should have put it on the line for both drivers to do a single lap.

“It didn’t work for everyone in SQ3, so I can see why they did it.

“They will review it. By [Saturday] we could see a very different order.”

Red Bull’s Verstappen was praised for edging ahead of both McLarens in sprint qualifying.

“Verstappen rolled the dice,” Chandhok said.

“He did a single lap on the soft tyre with the temperature dropping.

“And it worked for him. You would not have put money on a Red Bull behind ahead of a McLaren.”

But Collins insisted: “With that, you risk the yellow flag at the end of the session. It’s a gamble.

“Sometimes, you need to send it out there and be fully confident in your driver.

“Because you need everything to get that pole position.”