Analysis

Trackside view: Ferrari still struggling despite Hamilton's China sprint pole

OPINION: The first track day at Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix was a standout one for Ferrari as Lewis Hamilton netted sprint qualifying pole. And this was despite the SF-25 displaying awkward handling traits when viewed trackside in Shanghai

The rolling cheers were the first clue. Reverberating as if sprint qualifying for Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix was taking place within a leisure-centre swimming pool – such is the way the Shanghai track’s giant main grandstand traps noise - was the noise that greeted Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari pole.

At this stage, there was still Max Verstappen left to run as Motorsport.com continued peeking through the trackside catch-fencing as the sun began to set behind the long Turn 3 – the end of one of two ‘snail-shaped’ complexes at this track, as nicknamed by the event organisers.

The Red Bull driver wound up just 0.018s adrift of Hamilton’s leading 1m30.849s – largely thanks to Verstappen being alone of the frontrunners to avoid overstressing his rear tyres in the long Turn 13 left that feeds onto the back straight – and he was warmly applauded by the Shanghai crowd for his efforts.

But, for much of what this writer observed, it was the Ferrari that stood out from the rest in terms of car handling. And not in a good way.

Plenty else caught the eye first. How Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar repeatedly got tighter onto Turn 2’s apex kerbs, which was unsettling the Racing Bulls VCARB 02 when on flying laps, with Fernando Alonso doing similar at Turn 3.

Trackside view

Photo by: Alex Kalinauckas

For the Aston Martin driver, this seemed to have a knock-on effect on his subsequent power delivery, with his Mercedes engine uniquely burbling from the rest as the AMR25 oscillated significantly through the early phase of the long left-hander.

Here, Liam Lawson and Verstappen were taking similarly wide lines through SQ1, where the New Zealander was eliminated. But Lawson needed repeated steering input stabs to keep the nose rotating, whereas Verstappen was smooth and holding speed all the way around.

The difference was a massive 0.5s in the first sector on their respective fastest runs of Friday afternoon’s session – suggesting Lawson was missing momentum all the way down to the Turn 6 hairpin as a result, but with the caveat that he never got as far as using the softs in SQ3.

The McLaren drivers looked strongest here overall – although as they were still getting their tyres up to temperature, Norris was regularly grappling with the front axle in the short squirt as Turn 2 quickly unwinds into Turn 3, compared to team-mate Oscar Piastri.

It is, after all, the lap's later corners that doomed Norris on Friday – as he was improving rapidly before his Turn 14 lock-up and off that leaves him starting sixth for this weekend’s first race.

On both of their attempts in Q3 the MCL39 drivers had no issue rotating the front, but, unlike the two Mercedes cars, they are having no problem on traction early in Turn 3 either.