Qualifying results 2018 Chinese F1 Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Chinese GP F1/2018

Event: Chinese Grand Prix
Track: Shanghai International Circuit

Weather: Dry, overcast 12.5ºC
Tarmac: dry 15ºC
Humidity: 78%

In a very tight Chinese GP qualifying session, Sebastian Vettel scored his 52nd pole position in China today during the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix. It was his second pole position this season, the 4th in China and his 7th for Ferrari. He also broke the pole record of 1:34,012 min set by Rubens Barrichello back in 2004 in the Ferrari F2004.

In Q1 Ferrari already dominated the session and Vettel was at one point even more than a second faster than Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. It looked like Mercedes couldn't get their tyres on the ideal temperature to get the best grip.

Leclerc spun his Sauber coming out of the last corner and could keep his car out of the barriers to keep going.

It was a thigh session for Red Bull. Because of the turbo failure in FP3 in Daniel Ricciardo's RB14, the mechanics had to work hard and replaces the complete engine in 2 hours time. With 3 minutes on the clock Ricciardo could go out to put in a good lap time to get tino Q2.

In the beginning of Q2 Ferrari drove the quickest lap time on the slower yellow soft tyres while all other teams except Mercedes used the purple ultra soft tyres. The tyre compounds that drivers use in Q2 for their quickest lap is also the tyre they will start on for tomorrow's race.

At the end Q2 Mercedes got the tyres on the right temperature and topped the time table with soft tyres, that according to Pirelli is around 0.4 sec a lap slower.

McLaren still didn't make it to Q3. They still have the lowest top speed. The Renault engine haven't changed much and they are over 10 km/h slower than the competition.

In Q3 all cars used the fastest purple tyres. Kimi Raikkonen was the first to set a lap time and drove a 1:31.200. Which was the quickest lap time ever driven on the Shanghai International Circuit. It looked like Raikkonen would take the pole, but it was Sebastian Vettel who pushed his talents to the limit and drove a perfect lap.

See an overview of all 2018 F1 drivers with pictures and all statistics.

Qualifying results 2018 Chinese GP

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