Hamilton finally shows what he’s capable of with Ferrari, takes sprint pole before Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton on Friday gave a glimpse of what he and Ferrari could achieve together by clinching the sprint pole ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix in Formula One.

The seven-time champion finished fastest to prove his doubters wrong, and more importantly, give a lot of hope for Ferrari going into the second GP of the season.

Ferrari failed to make the podium at Albert Park last week, with McLaren-Mercedes' Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri doing a 1-2 and defending Max Verstappen of Red Bull finished third. Hamilton was placed eighth, just below his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Not ony did Hamilton edge Verstappen by 0.018 of a second to take the sprint pole, he smashed the Shanghai circuit lap record in the process. The 40-year-old Briton has secured the top slot for Saturday's 100m sprint race. The Chinese GP is on Sunday.

But Hamilton remained humble and said he was "a bit gobsmacked" by the result. When reminded of the timing over the radio, his initial reaction had been: "Really? Hahaha. Mega job."

Hamilton has 104 regular career poles but none since 2023. Hamilton on his first season with Ferrari, aiming o win a record-eighth Formula One world championship. He won seven titles with McLaren and Mercedes.

"I didn't know when we would get to this position. After last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week, to come here with just aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and really get the car into a great place.

"I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car. I can't believe we are at the front, ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, and the last race and even today.

"Even though it's not the main pole it gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow and try to find more performance and see if we can compete again. There's definitely a little more performance to find, for sure," Hamilton said.