The World Championship leader continued his impeccable form from the earlier practice session and last week in Melbourne, delivering the fastest lap of the weekend so far with a 1m31.520s to pip his teammate Kimi Antonelli by 0.289s.

However, despite the Brackley-based squad’s dominance, there remains an asterisk over Antonelli’s time, with the Italian under investigation for impeding Lando Norris during SQ2.

Norris finished the session in third place, more than half a second behind Russell’s Sprint Pole time, but could move up to the front row should Antonelli receive a penalty for the incident.

Russell said he was delighted with his Sprint Pole, the first of his career.

“The car has been feeling amazing,” he said after the session.

“We knew after Melbourne we had a really good car. Today was a real joy to drive… it felt really quick.”

Last year’s Sprint Pole holder in China, Lewis Hamilton, was unable to repeat his heroics from 2025, finishing fourth — two spots ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

The Maranello pair were split by Oscar Piastri, who was on a fast lap in the closing moments before losing time in the final sector, ending up fifth, less than a tenth off his teammate.

Pierre Gasly put in a stellar effort to end up seventh, although he too is under investigation for an impeding incident, this time involving Max Verstappen at the final corner in SQ2.

Verstappen ended up eighth, complaining heavily about car handling during the session, with both him and teammate Isack Hadjar lucky to make it into the final part of Sprint Qualifying — both advancing by less than a hundredth of a second.

Oliver Bearman finished ninth, one spot ahead of Hadjar, who rounded out the top 10.

The second part of Sprint Qualifying was dominated by the incident involving Norris and Antonelli as the world champion approached him into Turn 1.

The McLaren driver attempted to move to the racing line entering the corner but encountered a slow-moving Mercedes, with his radio complaints immediately broadcast from the frustrated Briton.

Verstappen’s drama in the session was also fuelled by a late off at the final corner, as the Dutchman continued to vent his frustration over the handling of his RB22 while sneaking through to the final part of Sprint Qualifying.

Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Arvid Lindblad, and Franco Colapinto, however, weren’t so lucky, with all six relegated to positions 11–16 for the Sprint Race tomorrow after failing to make it into SQ3.

The Williams pair of Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon were even more unlucky, unable to progress out of SQ1, with Sainz missing out on the second part of Sprint Qualifying by just two tenths of a second.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were next in line, but after a difficult start to the season, both Aston Martins will be encouraged by the track time they have managed so far this weekend.

Bringing up the rear were the Cadillac drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, with Perez not taking to the track at all due to a fuel system issue, relegating him to the back of the grid.

The Sprint Race for the Chinese Grand Prix gets underway at 11am local time on Saturday (2pm AEDT Sunday).

Results: Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, Sprint Qualifying