After a Sprint Race earlier in the day, it was time for the teams and drivers to turn their focus back to Qualifying to set the Grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, and Logan Sargeant were the five slowest drivers. Zhou Guanyu will be gutted that a mistake in the Turn 14 hairpin cost him a spot in Q2 in front of his adoring fans whilst Kevin Magnussen will also be frustrated to have been knocked out in his Haas. Lewis Hamilton, who finished second in the Sprint this morning, had a horrible Qualifying which will see him start P18 tomorrow, just ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who’s having a horrible weekend for Visa Cash App RB. Logan Sargeant was the slowest driver in Qualifying today, some 1 second behind his Williams teammate after spinning off at Turn 7/8. Max Verstappen topped Q1 here, just half a tenth ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, and Pierre Gasly all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Lance Stroll will be disappointed to have missed out on a Q3 appearance, especially given the fact that his lap compared to his Aston Martin teammate was pretty decent. Daniel Ricciardo should be pleased with P12 in his VCARB whilst Esteban Ocon will be pleased with his second 13th place of the day. Alex Albon did an alright job to get his Williams into P14 whilst Pierre Gasly made his first appearance in Q2, only to end up slowest. Max Verstappen once again topped this session, this time by a much bigger margin to Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
Q3
In Qualifying 3; a 1:33.660 was enough for Max Verstappen to take his 6th-consecutive Pole Position! Max is simply unstoppable, there’s really not much else to say other than he could lap most of the field tomorrow. Sergio Perez completed a Red Bull 1-2 after recovering from nearly being knocked out in Q1 whilst Fernando Alonso pulled out a splendid lap to secure P3 for Aston Martin! Lando Norris will start 4th ahead of Oscar Piastri after a positive session for McLaren whilst Ferrari will be disappointed with 6th and 7th as Charles Leclerc just about beat Carlos Sainz by only 8 thousandths of a second! It’s actually worth mentioning that Carlos crashed in Q2, but he was amazingly able to keep going after a Red Flag. George Russell could only manage 8th as Mercedes struggles look to be continuing whilst Nico Hulkenberg did a superb job to get his Haas into P9 whilst Valtteri Bottas should be happy with another Q3 appearance.
Starting Grid for the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Sergio Perez: 8
Fernando Alonso: 10
Lando Norris: 8
Oscar Piastri: 7
Charles Leclerc: 6
Carlos Sainz: 5
George Russell: 5
Nico Hulkenberg: 9
Valtteri Bottas: 8
Lance Stroll: 4
Daniel Ricciardo: 7
Esteban Ocon: 6
Alex Albon: 5
Pierre Gasly: 4
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Kevin Magnussen: 2
Lewis Hamilton: 1
Yuki Tsunoda: 1
Logan Sargeant: 1
My Predictions for the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez
Lando Norris
Carlos Sainz
Fernando Alonso
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