Oscar Piastri put the wind up McLaren team-mate Lando Norris by claiming the first pole of his career for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Australian is desperate to push his own title ambitions rather than play second fiddle to Norris, who started the season perfectly with an impressive win in the wet in Melbourne last weekend.
Piastri set two flying laps that were good enough for pole, finishing 0.082sec in front.
Worse news for Norris came at the end of the session when George Russell squeezed his Mercedes up the time sheets ahead of him. So Russell, who said it was a tough qualifying session, starts tomorrow from second on the grid with Norris a place back.
Norris’s setback came as an extra frustration after the sprint earlier. He finished an unexpectedly lowly sixth in the 19-lap dash won by Ferrari new boy Lewis Hamilton.
Norris victory in Melbourne came in a car that Russell described as more dominant over the rest of the field than any in recent memory, including the 2023 Red Bull that was victorious in all but one race that year.
McLaren driver secured his first-ever pole position in China Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday
His team-mate Lando Norris was forced to abort his final lap after the duo were split by George Russell
Mercedes star Russell delivered an oustanding performance to take the second place with 1:30.723
‘A couple of mistakes again my side, that’s all,’ said Norris. ‘I felt more comfortable in the car than yesterday. We are going in the right direction. I am not too disappointed.
‘We changed quite a lot after the sprint because we were struggling.’
Max Verstappen qualified fourth best for Red Bull with Hamilton fifth, a tenth faster than his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. This is a track the seven-time world champion likes and where he has won a record six times.
Another dejecting afternoon for Liam Lawson. Being Verstappen’s team-mate is a hard lot and finishing behind him is expected. But in the first two weekends of the season it is the rest of the field giving him a headache, as he qualified dead last.