George Russell takes first Sprint Qualifying pole of 2026

The first Sprint weekend of the season is underway in China. This means an intense schedule for teams and drivers, with the first qualifying session already taking place on Friday. The Sprint qualifying pole position was claimed by George Russell, who was more than two-tenths faster than his teammate, Kimi Antonelli, who finished second. Current World Champion Lando Norris secured third place.

In Sprint qualifying drivers are obligated to use on set of medium compound on each of the first two parts of the qualifying. Consequently, most drivers completed two fast laps on the same set of tyres during SQ1, a pattern we saw repeated by almost everyone in SQ2.

In the SQ3 segment, the top ten drivers are obligated to switch to the soft compound, leading to even faster times. Russell eventually secured pole with a 1:31.520, less than seven-tenths slower than the 2025 sprint pole time of 1:30.849, set by Lewis Hamilton.

The Pirelli Sprint Qualifying Award was presented to Russell by Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director. The trophy consists of a helmet decorated with the colors of the Chinese flag and personalized with the driver’s name and car number, who will start tomorrow’s Sprint from pole position, along with a replica of a P Zero Soft tyre.

George Russell

“I am happy that we were able to secure pole position for tomorrow’s Sprint race, the first Sprint pole of my career. The W17 has been feeling great the entire day, and we’ve been able to make the most out of the car in today’s qualifying session. When the wind picked up in SQ3, we began to lose some speed on the straights, like others, but still managed to put all the sectors together and secure a front row for tomorrow’s race.

“Despite our pace, we are cautious of the threat posed by others. We also know that anything can happen during a Sprint race, especially at the start. We’ve been working hard with the team on our getaways from the grid and have plenty of learnings from Melbourne. We will also need to focus on tyre management as we always see a lot of graining at this track.

“We’ll keep working overnight to ensure a good Sprint race tomorrow but also a successful qualifying session for Sunday’s Grand Prix.”

DARIO MARRAFUSCHI – PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR

“During Sprint race weekends, it’s always challenging for teams to fully assess tyre behaviour as they only have one hour of free practice. During this session, the teams used one set of medium tyres and one set of soft tyres, without carrying out any significant long runs. The hards were saved for the following days, and some teams may consider using them in their strategies for Sunday’s race as early as tomorrow.

“The Sprint race, which is most likely to be run on Medium tyres, will certainly provide a clearer picture. The performance difference between the two compounds used on Friday is around six tenths. Interestingly, in the first two qualifying segments, the C3 was once again able to deliver maximum performance on the second push lap after completing a cooldown lap.

“Temperatures are cooler than last year, the track is still dirty and has less grip than we will see on Sunday as the track evolves. As happened last year and as expected, some graining appeared on the front-left tyre, which is the most stressed by Shanghai’s corners, and to a lesser extent on the front-right, although the impact on overall wear remains limited. On this circuit, teams tend to prioritise protecting the front axle, shifting the balance towards the rear as much as possible.”

Written by

Jarrod Partridge

Jarrod Partridge is the Co-Founder of F1 Chronicle and an FIA accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following Formula 1. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered F1 races at circuits around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every race report, driver profile, and technical analysis he writes.

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