© Getty Images2024 Chinese Grand Prix - Saturday ReportThat’s our 100th pole as a team! What a milestone to reach where we had our first ever pole in 2009.
MaxVerstappenroaredtoasuperSaturdaydoubleinShanghai,takingadominantSprintvictoryinthemorningandthenpoweringtohisfifthpoleinarowandanincredible100thfortheteamatthevenuewherewescoredourfirstallthewaybackin2009.
There was no touching Max in either morning race, in which he overcame early battery issues to take a first Sprint win of the season from fourth on the grid, or in qualifying where he topped every session and eased to his 37th career pole three tenths of a second clear of Checo who completed a perfect Saturday by taking P2 to hand the Team a front-row lockout for the race.
Max
Checo
When the lights went out for the 19-lap Sprint, polesitter Lando Norris immediately came under pressure from front-row rival Lewis Hamilton and as they went into the long, coiling first corner McLaren driver Norris went wide and dropped to seventh and Hamilton seized the lead.
Behind them Max made a good start from fourth on the grid to target Alonso but almost immediately the Dutchman was on the radio complaining about an issue with his battery. He was advised of a settings change but while the problem was remedied he had slipped two seconds behind Alonso.
With his battery issue sorted, Max now began to close in on Alonso and on lap seven he dismissed the Spaniard with a textbook move under DRS on the back straight to take second place.
A lap later Hamilton went wide at the hairpin and that was all the incentive Max needed. He charged up behind the Mercedes on lap nine and roared past at the hairpin to take the lead.
With victory in sight, Max put the power down and over the remaining laps he stretched his advantage over Hamilton and eventually crossed the line to take his first Sprint win of the season by more than 13 seconds.
Behind them Checo was embroiled in a tight battle for third. Alonso, desperately clinging to third, was in defensive mode, rebuffing repeated attacks by Sainz. On lap 15, Sainz tried once again but this time there was contact and that allowed the wily Checo to close in and pass both in Turn 8 to seal a superb third place ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sainz.
First Sprint Win Of 2024 Achieved© Getty Images
After the Sprint there was little time to relish in the win as we headed into Qualifying for tomorrows race…
Max’s first flying lap, a 1:35.171, put the Champion in second place just behind Alonso. Behind him, Checo was forced wide on his opening lap when he came across a much slower Alex Albon, leading to a few choice words about the Williams driver’s awareness over the radio to race engineer Hugh Bird.
Out on another run, Checo’s first proper effort put him sixth, 0.615s behind Norris’ pacesetting time. It led to a nervous final few minutes for the Mexican as a barrage of better final runs came in across the field.
Thankfully, both Bulls made it through into Q2.
Max maintained his grip on top spot at the start of the second session, with the Dutchman posting a strong opening lap of 1:33.946 to take spot, half a second ahead of Norris, with Piastri two tenths further back in third.
Checo posted a lap of 1:34.883, putting him fifth behind Alonso and almost a second off Max, but as he crossed the line, Sainz dipped into the gravel was immediately pitched into a 360-degree spin. The session was red flagged while Sainz limped his Ferrari back to the pits.
After an almost 10-minute break to clear debris, the session resumed with seven minutes left on the clock.
Amazingly, Sainz, in his hastily repaired Ferrari climbed to P2 in the closing moments of the session, ahead of team-mate Leclerc, but behind them Checo was going quicker and made it a one-two at the flag with a lap of 1:34.026 that put him more than three tenths clear of the Sainz.
Climbing Through The Grid In Quali© Getty Images
Checo Grabs Front Row Start© Getty Images
Max once again stamped his authority on the timesheet in the first runs of Q3, posting a lap of 1:33.977 to outpace second-placed Alonso by 0.394s. Checo slotted into third place, just under half a second off his team-mate and unhappy with a tweak made to the front wing ahead of his opening run. Norris sat in fourth ahead of team-mate Piastri, with the McLarens ahead of the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc.
In the final runs of the session Max remained untouchable. The Bulls were last out on track and while there was movement on the timesheet, Max was eclipsing his own opening run and when he crossed the line he improved again, to 1:33.660 to take the Team’s 100th pole and to become the first driver since Mika Häkkinen in 1999 to take pole in the opening five races of a season.
Behind him, Checo made it a perfect opening to the weekend, improving his opening time by two tenths and grabbing the 12th front row start of his career and his second of the season so far.
Checo ended the session just under two tenths clear of Alonso, with the Spaniard taking third ahead of Norris and Piastri, while Sainz and Leclerc will line up on row three ahead of Russell, Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.
| Rank | Driver | Team | Gap | Points | | 1 | Max Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | - | 8 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +13.043 | 7 |
| 3 | Sergio Pérez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | +15.250 | 6 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +17.486 | 5 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +20.696 | 4 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +22.088 | 3 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +24.713 | 2 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | +25.696 | 1 |
| 9 | Guanyu Zhou | Kick Sauber | +31.951 | 0 |
| 10 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +37.398 | 0 |
