Printable Page
04/20 04:24 CDT Verstappen takes pole for Chinese GP to extend F1 dominance.
Hamilton 18th
Verstappen takes pole for Chinese GP to extend F1 dominance. Hamilton 18th
By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer
SHANGHAI (AP) --- Max Verstappen of Red Bull has completed a Formula 1 double,
taking the pole Saturday for the Chinese Grand Prix just hours after winning
the first F1 sprint of the season.
Teammate Sergio Perez will start alongside Verstappen on Sunday on the front
row with Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Lando Norris of McLaren on the
second row. Verstappen turned 1 minute 33.660 seconds on his fastest lap, 0.322
ahead of Perez.
Superlatives fail. The three-time defending F1 champion is unassailable --- the
sport's best driver in the quickest car. The Dutchman has won 22 of the last 26
GPs and three of the first four this season. Only a brake failure in Melbourne,
Australia, probably kept him from sweeping all four races.
Look for more of the same on Sunday.
"If the car is even only half as good as what it was in the sprint then I think
we'll be all right," Verstappen said.
This season he's won every pole, and his start from that spot on Sunday will be
the 37th of his career --- it's the 100th pole for Red Bull as a team --- as he
chases his 58th victory.
"Of course, that's an incredible achievement for the whole team," Verstappen
said.
"From my side, it's been a really good start to the year," he added in
understatement. "I feel very confident in qualifying compared to last year.
Just a shame of course that we retired in Melbourne, otherwise I think we could
have had already a very strong lead."
Alonso, who won season titles in 2005 and 2006, is still going strong. He turns
43 this summer, just signed a contract extension with Aston Martin and remains
one of F1's quickest drivers.
"These kind of laps and moments are very encouraging for the future," the
Spaniard said. He said on race day he's likely to finish "seven, eight or nine"
--- but no matter.
"We are qualifying extremely well this year and we'll take it."
Qualifying was run under dry conditions with similar weather expected for
Sunday.
Verstappen leads the F1 season standings with 85 points, 15 clear of teammate
Perez and 21 clear of Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who dominated the sport before
Verstappen, is without a win in 49 races --- the last in 2021. He will start
18th on the grid after finishing second in the sprint.
The track, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of central
Shanghai, has been a mystery for teams to solve. This is the first F1 race in
China in five years, scratched from the calendar by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The biggest unknown is the racing surface, which has had a thin "seal coating"
applied --- described as liquid asphalt. Tire supplier Pirelli said it had not
been fully aware of the changes. In steady rain on Friday, Verstappen said
driving in those conditions was like "driving on ice."
Adding to the intrigue, two small grass fires broke out on at the edge of the
track in Friday practice. The circuit was built on a marshy area, and a methane
gas leak is suspected.
Shanghai-born Zhou Guanyu, the only Chinese to drive in F1, was slow in
qualifying and will start 16th on the grid for Sauber.
___
AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one
|
