Lando Norris lamented a McLaren MCL39 that was “too difficult” to drive during Sprint Qualifying for the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.

Allcomers expected Norris to run to Sprint pole at the Shanghai International Circuit, despite the McLaren driver warning on Thursday that Ferrari could be resurgent.

Those comments came among a notion the MCL39 was a car that has ultimate potential but can bite and that’s exactly how Sprint Qualifying played out.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton romped away to Sprint Pole with a lap record while Norris slid to sixth thanks to two errors.

On his first SQ3 run, Norris had a moment coming onto the back straight, costing him vital speed and six-tenths in the final sector to team-mate Oscar Piastri.

In his final run, locking up into Turn 14 forced Norris to abort the lap and he was adamant once out of the car that an improvement is needed.

“We just struggled a bit more now, just not quick enough simply, I struggled a lot with the car,” Norris said.

“So, yeah, just our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with showed a lot more today.

“Nothing more than that, honestly, just too many mistakes, but it’s just too difficult of a car to drive.”

Wind exposed McLaren’s weaknesses

Norris added that windy conditions helped expose McLaren’s weaknesses, akin to the findings he discovered during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

“I think just throughout the day we’ve been struggling a bit with the front locking and struggling a lot in the last corner with all the tailwinds, he said. 

“Kind of a lot more in line with Bahrain, so just a lot windier when the wind’s blowing, then we struggle a lot more.

“Both myself and Oscar struggled more, clearly me more than him.

“Just pushing a bit hard to try and make up for not quite being quick enough.”

Asked whether McLaren can make improvements for the remainder of the weekend, Norris acknowledged that it’s up to him, rather than the team to turn his Chinese GP around.

“That’s more me rather than the car,” he said. 

“I can’t make the car perfect, but, this was me just trying to, again, like I said, just push a bit too much. 

“I think the car’s still good and in a good window, maybe not good enough for pole, but, yeah, we can definitely go forward.”

READ MORE – Lando Norris: McLaren MCL39 made it difficult to dominate F1 Australian GP qualifying

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Lewis Hamilton revelled in his Ferrari Formula 1 car “coming alive” as he bagged his maiden pole position with the team in Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton, the record pole and win holder at the Shanghai International Circuit, pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to secure first position on the grid for the Sprint race.

The Briton had endured an arduous debut with Ferrari in Australia, but he had appeared much more at one with his SF-25 during the single practice hour this weekend.

Having held an upper hand over team-mate Charles Leclerc throughout the three segments, Hamilton’s sole run in SQ3 also saw him usurp the pacesetting McLarens.

The McLarens were unable to improve on their second attempts, while Verstappen came up short in a last-ditch bid to beat Hamilton’s track-record-setting benchmark.

“I didn’t expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud,” Hamilton, who edged out Verstappen by 0.018 seconds, beamed.

“The last race was a disaster for us, and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car but we weren’t able to extract it.

“To come here to a track that I love: Shanghai, a beautiful place and the weather has been amazing.

“The car really came alive from lap one. We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready.

“I’m a bit in shock, I can’t believe we got a pole in the Sprint.

“Obviously it’s not the main race so we’ve got work to do tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the race.”

How Hamilton earned maiden Ferrari pole

Hamilton believes nailing the opening sector on his one-timed run in the SQ3 shootout was pivotal to claiming his first pole in red, a landmark he described as surreal.

“My first sector was really, really strong,” he recalled. “I think that’s where I made most of my improvement on that lap.

“But just little increments through the whole place.

“There’s still time to find for sure which I’ll try and make sure I apply to the next qualifying session we go out in.

“It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car, it’s pretty incredible.”

Hamilton in the dark on Ferrari race prospects

Hamilton has conceded that he goes into tomorrow’s 19-lap Sprint encounter in the dark over how the Ferrari SF-25 handles over a race distance in drier conditions.

“I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain. We did the race last weekend in the wet,” he highlighted.

“But tomorrow will be my first real race run and Sunday will be my first proper race run in the dry with this car.

“I’m hoping that we can hold onto it, but I think the McLaren is very, very fast, as is Max.

“We’re in a good position, we’ll stay positive and we’ll keep our heads high and keep pushing forward.”

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton grabs Chinese GP Sprint Race pole

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Lewis Hamilton set a new lap record at the Shanghai International Circuit as he claimed Sprint Race pole position for Ferrari.

Hamilton moved to the front with a time of 1:30.849s during an enthralling SQ3 session in China, beating reigning champion Max Verstappen by just 0.018s.

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton ready to ‘rebuild’ Ferrari amid F1 title vow

McLaren, favourites heading into the session, wound up with Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris sixth, as neither improved on their first laps.

Norris had errors on both of his push laps in SQ3 as he bid for back-to-back Sprint poles at the venue faltered.

Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, with George Russell in fifth spot, and his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli seventh.

Yuki Tsunoda was eighth for Racing Bulls, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Fernando Alonso missed out on a spot in SQ3 by two-thousandths of a second and will start from 11^th, while Oliver Bearman gave Haas reason for encouragement after a difficult start to the campaign by taking 12^th place.

Carlos Sainz was unable to match the pace of team-mate Alex Albon and finished 13^th, while Gabriel Bortoleto was again the faster Sauber driver across a single lap and took 14^th spot.

Isack Hadjar finished 15^th after an error through Turn 1 on his SQ2 lap proved terminal to his prospects of advancing.

Alpine suffered a double elimination from SQ1 as neither Jack Doohan nor Pierre Gasly were able to escape the 12-minute session.

Esteban Ocon was 18^th for Haas, ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, while Liam Lawson had another dismal outing for Red Bull Racing.

Lawson struggled to get the Medium tyres working and an error through Turn 9 compounded his woes as he finished last of the 20 drivers.

READ MORE – F1 2025 Chinese Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying Results

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Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton has qualified on pole position for the Sprint race at the 2025 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, edging out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Oscar Piastri was the lead McLaren in the third, heading Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari. George Russell completed the top five, ahead of Lando Norris.

READ MORE –

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Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner is unsure how the latest clampdown on flexi-wings will impact the Formula 1 pecking order as Alpine is forced to make a change.

The FIA informed teams ahead of the new season that front wing flex-limitations will be restricted as of Round 9, with rear wing flex restrictions in place at the season opener to the tune of 2 mm vertical movement on the main plane under a load of 75 kg. 

However, during pre-season testing, Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache accused the likes of McLaren and Ferrari of abusing rear-wing flex rules, a phenom colloquially referred to as ‘mini-DRS’ after Oscar Piastri’s MCL38 was scrutinised in Baku last year.

The FIA found no teams in breach of rear wing flex regulations at the season-opener in Melbourne, but its surveillance prompted a new technical directive, effective for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, slashing the flexibility limit from 2mm to 0.5mm.

McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes haven’t had to make changes as a result of the Technical Directive, but there has been a change for some of the midfield outfits.

Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu told the Sky Sports broadcast team during practice at the Shanghai International Circuit that the VF-25 has had to stiffen its rear wing after being close to the margin on the 2mm limit in Melbourne.

As well as this, Alpine Racing Director Dave Greenwood confirmed to Motorsport.com that his team has made a change.

“We’ve had to do some work back at the factory to make sure we were in a correct place here, but I think that’s fairly normal in these situations,” he said. 

“When a rule and an allowance of deflection changes, you need to check that you are going to be able to comply with that as well.

“I think you can imagine the time scales were very small, so it’s not like you can do something revolutionary. But yeah, there are things we can do to make sure we comply.”

Horner unsure of TD impact

Given that none of the top four teams have admitted to making changes, adamant that the rear wing flexibility has been adhered to both at Melbourne and Shanghai, it’s hard to see how this latest technical directive will impact the pecking order.

This was predominantly the thoughts of Horner when he was asked about the new rules during Friday’s press conference in China.

“Well, I mean, the FIA, it’s their job obviously to police these things,” Horner said. 

“They obviously saw things that they weren’t particularly happy with at the last race.

“So therefore, as is their prerogative, they’ve tightened up those regulations through TD that came out this week. 

“Now, what effect it has up and down the grid, I really don’t know. 

“But that’s just part and parcel of Formula 1. TDs are almost forthcoming on a weekly basis.”

What could create a bigger impact, is the front wing flex clampdown in Spain later this year.

Horner has already commented on the matter, querying the timing.

“Yeah, it’ll be interesting the effect that it has – I guess the slight oddball about it is the timing of it,” Horner said.

“Why race nine? It might have been better to have been addressed during the off-season, because you end up doing sort of two specs of wings.

“But who will gain or who will lose from it, I think, is impossible to predict.”

READ MORE – Lando Norris: McLaren ‘not pushing rear-wing flex limits enough’ amid China clampdown

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McLaren’s Lando Norris laid down a strong 1:31.504s benchmark to clear the Formula 1 field in free practice at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Norris was four and a half tenths ahead of second-placed Charles Leclerc in a session that was briefly interrupted by a red flag.

“I have an issue, no power steering, car’s switched off,” Jack Doohan told Alpine with 13 minutes left in the solitary practice session in Shanghai.

At that moment, the Red Flag was waved to recover the stricken Alpine, before anyone had managed to do a Soft Tyre run before Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session.

A four-minute delay prompted an eight-minute frenzy where the majority of the remaining drivers headed back onto the Shanghai International Circuit with soft Pirelli rubber.

READ MORE – When and how to watch the F1 2025 Chinese GP

With the newly resurfaced Shanghai circuit rubbering in, Norris having two cracks at a flying lap benefitted him en route to the top of the timesheet.

Behind the Briton and Ferrari’s Leclerc was McLaren’s second driver, Oscar Piastri who was six and a half tenths behind his team-mate.

Lewis Hamilton then made the order McLaren, Ferrari, McLaren, Ferrari as the seven-time champion posted the fourth fastest time with his ex-Mercedes team-mate George Russell rounding out the top five.

A late effort by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg saw the German go sixth, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top-10.

After Haas suffered at the back of the field in Australia, Oliver Bearman showed promise by going 11th-fastest during practice in Shanghai.

The British teenager led Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Haas team-mate Esteban Ocon with the Frenchman’s former Alpine peer Pierre Gasly going 14th.

Next up in the order was Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the Dutchman low in the order after aborting his Soft Tyre run.

Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar was 17th fastest ahead of Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, with the New Zealander still acclimatising to the RB21.

That left Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine’s Doohan to complete the order.

READ MORE – F1 2025 Chinese Grand Prix – FP1 Results

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McLaren’s Lando Norris posted the quickest lap time in the standalone practice session at the 2025 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc in the leading Ferrari split the McLaren drivers as Oscar Piastri was third, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell completing the top five.

The post F1 2025 Chinese Grand Prix – FP1 Results appeared first on Motorsport Week.

The 2025 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix is up next after Lando Norris was victorious in the season opener in Melbourne.

Ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the McLaren driver claimed the fifth win of his F1 career in tricky wet-weather conditions at Albert Park.

Home favourite Oscar Piastri finished further down the order in the other Papaya car after a mistake cost him a second-place finish at his home Grand Prix.

The Australian will be looking to bounce back at the Shanghai International Circuit with Sprint Qualifying up first on Friday.

How to watch the 2025 Chinese GP

Coverage of all the action in the UK and Ireland will be shown live, with free-to-air highlights available later in the day.

Watch Live: Sky Sports F1 will broadcast every session live, as well as build-up and post-session shows to sprint qualifying, the sprint race, qualifying and the race.

In addition, Channel 4 will broadcast highlights of the qualifying, sprint and race sessions.

Live Stream: Sky Sports subscribers will be able to catch all of the action through the Sky Go app, which requires an internet connection to access.

Alternatively, coverage can be accessed through NOW TV.

TV broadcast start times

Sky Sports F1

Friday: FP1 – 03:00 | Sprint Qualifying – 06:45

Saturday: Chinese Grand Prix Sprint – 02:25 | Qualifying – 06:35

Sunday: Chinese Grand Prix – 05:30

Channel 4

Friday: Sprint Qualifying highlights – 11:35

Saturday: Chinese Grand Prix Sprint & Qualifying highlights – 14:00

Sunday: Chinese Grand Prix – 13:00

How to stream the 2025 Chinese GP

F1TV, the sport’s own streaming service, will broadcast sessions in territories where the service is available.

The list of countries in which F1 TV Pro is available can be found here.

READ MORE – Five key talking points ahead of the 2025 F1 Chinese GP

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Haas boss Ayao Komatsu fears that the team’s surprising lack of pace at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix is not a “one-off”.

It was a wretched race weekend for the American outfit, which started with rookie Oliver Bearman crashing his VF-25 during the first practice session of 2025.

Haas finished 19th and 20th during FP1 and FP2 before going on to qualify in the same positions for the Grand Prix.

Starting from the pit lane, Bearman avoided the chaos in tricky wet-weather conditions and managed to keep his car on track to finish in 14th place on Sunday – the last of the classified competitors.

His team-mate, Esteban Ocon, finished just ahead of him after starting the race from 19th place.

After focusing on long-run pace and tyre management exploration during Bahrain pre-season testing, it was left unclear as to how Haas would compare performance-wise to the rest of the grid.

But after Friday, Komatsu revealed to Motorsport.com how he was left stunned by the Banbury-based squad’s lack of performance.

“I don’t think it’s a one-off,” he said.

“It was a big surprise, we weren’t expecting that whatsoever based on Bahrain testing.

“Bahrain testing wasn’t perfect, but we weren’t expecting it anywhere near as bad as Melbourne.

“In FP1, on a very fast lap when the car went out, I thought either something was broken or something is completely out of the ballpark.

“Then when we established, right, nothing’s broken, we’ve got a big issue.”

Haas expects high-speed corner issues to continue in 2025

The 49-year-old went on to explain how the team discovered the issue at hand and how it went about addressing its lack of performance.

”It was pretty clear the problem was in high speed, Turn 9, Turn 10,” Komatsu added.

”Then we just worked and worked to make those corners better with the expense of low speed.

”But even then, low-speed corners are okay, not great – but compared to the issue we had in Turns 9 and 10, it’s night and day.

”So then by Q1, we managed to get Turn 9 more or less respectable but Turn 10, still nowhere.

”We understand why, but with the issues we have, we cannot solve it for all corners, right?

”So I think at least we took [the] correct steps during the weekend.”

Komatsu confirmed that Haas would continue to find solutions this year instead of focusing on 2026 with the new regulations set to come into force.

He believes that the car’s problems were down to its interface with the ground at low ride heights.

However, the motorsport executive noted that Haas would have to endure challenges at several races due to the severity of the problems.

He added: ”I think that’s the best we could do with the Melbourne circuit characteristics, that our car’s weakness that we discovered in Melbourne and then characteristics of Turn 10 as a corner.

”The next point is to understand which part of the car we need to modify, or which part of the car has the sensitivity to solve this performance issue.

”So up to this point, we are reasonably clear.

”Then of course, next is, how are we going to find a solution?

Some of them can be reasonably short-term solutions, but some of them will be an iterative process, both in CFD and wind tunnel.

“So you’re not going to see a solution for some races – it’s pretty severe.”

READ MORE: How F1 Australian GP practice exposed Haas weaknesses

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McLaren‘s Lando Norris said Ferrari must have been “shocked” by its pace deficit in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Ferrari posed a genuine threat to McLaren throughout practice at the Albert Park Circuit with Charles Leclerc even topping FP2.

However, come the top-10 shootout in qualifying, any competitiveness Ferrari had towards McLaren evaporated as Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were resigned to the fourth row, seven-tenths adrift of the papaya front row lockout.

In the race, Ferrari’s fortunes didn’t improve and a lack of outright pace and strategy miscues saw the Scuderia duo finish eighth and 10th respectively.

Norris is adamant that McLaren won’t enjoy a similar advantage over Ferrari this weekend in China, expecting the Italian squad to have fared far better in Melbourne.

“The gap in qualifying surprised us a bit,” Norris said on Thursday.

“Our goal was to be on pole, and we expected to be quickest, but we also expected Ferrari to be a good chunk quicker than they were. 

“In the end, they were what—seven, eight tenths off? They’re not that far off by any means. 

“If you looked at FP1, FP2, FP3, their pace never looked that far behind. All of Ferrari’s race runs on Friday were a lot closer to us than anyone else. 

“In fact, I think Ferrari’s race pace on Friday was maybe even better than ours. So we were surprised. 

“I’m sure they seemed a bit shocked as well by why they were so far off in the race. 

“But it just shows how difficult it is to predict. One weekend, everything is going well, and the next, it can turn upside down.”

McLaren driver line-up an ‘advantage’ – Norris

Norris acknowledged that race by race and even stint by stint, things can change very quickly.

“You saw how quick Max was at the end of the race,” Norris exclaimed, citing the moment damp conditions played into the Red Bull driver’s hands.

“Even at the start, in the first five to seven laps, and then again in the last five to seven laps, Max was just as quick as us.”

However, when the conditions dried and managing tyre degradation became key, Norris highlighted that his and Oscar Piastri’s know-how proved to be a big advantage.

“But in that middle period of the race, when you have to understand the tyres and know how much to push, we seemed very strong,” he said. 

“That’s when you need a well-balanced car in drying conditions so the tyre degradation happens evenly, rather than the front wearing out more than the rear or vice versa. 

“Also, there’s a good amount that Oscar and I have learned from each other about how to drive the car efficiently. 

“That’s an advantage—not every team has two teammates who can really rely on each other and push each other forward. 

“It’s something we’ve worked on at McLaren, and I think it’s paying off.”

Ferrari meanwhile, although boasting a strong driver line-up, is working hard to bring Hamilton up to speed, as he seeks to tune his massive talent to his new surroundings.

After three seasons as team-mates, Norris and Piastri are singing from the same hymn sheet.

READ MORE – Lando Norris predicts slow start for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

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