Piastri secures his first pole position, Verstappen has his longest streak without a front row qualification in over four years and Hadjar and Antonelli reach Q3 for the first time in their careers. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix!
PIASTRI TAKES FIRST POLE
Oscar Piastri secured the first pole position of his Formula 1 career at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. He became the 107th different driver to take pole position at a round of the World Championship.
Piastri became the first Australian driver to take pole position since Daniel Ricciardo at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix.
Piastri secured McLaren’s third pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix. This was the team’s first pole position at Shanghai International Circuit since 2007, when Lewis Hamilton secured the fastest time.
Piastri became the sixth different polesitter in the last six Chinese Grand Prix weekends, while McLaren became the fourth different team to secure pole position in the last four Shanghai races.
This was Piastri’s first pole position having already secured seven front row starts. Piastri is the sixth driver to make as many as seven front row appearances before his first pole position, after Mike Hawthorn (10), Stirling Moss (7), Denny Hulme (19), Jackie Stewart (12) and Max Verstappen (7). In addition, Richie Ginther (8), Peter Collins (8) and Jean Behra (10) made more front row starts without ever taking pole, while Bruce McLaren made seven front row starts without ever taking pole.
Piastri secured pole position by 0.082 seconds – the third time in the last four races in China that pole position has been decided by under a tenth of a second.
IN THE TOP TEN FOR THE 2025 CHINESE GRAND PRIX
George Russell set the second fastest lap time in qualifying for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. His first front row qualification marked the first time Russell qualified in the top seven at Shanghai International Circuit.
Lando Norris set the third fastest time in Q3 at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix and was out-qualified by his team-mate for the first time since the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
This was the first time since 2011 that both McLaren drivers qualified in the top three for the Chinese Grand Prix.
With fourth place, the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix marked the third race in a row at which Max Verstappen did not qualify on the front row of the grid. This was the first time Verstappen failed to qualify on the front row at three consecutive races since the 2020 Eifel, Portuguese and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix.
Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to record as many as 13 top ten qualifications at the Chinese Grand Prix, moving clear of Fernando Alonso at the top of the list.
Hamilton qualified in fifth place, marking his first top five qualification since setting the third fastest time in qualifying for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. This was also the first time since then that Hamilton out-qualified his team-mate.
With both Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar qualifying in the top ten at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, Racing Bulls recorded their first double Q3 appearance since the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. This was the team’s first double Q3 appearance in China since 2016.
While Oscar Piastri maintained his 100% Q3 appearance rate at the Chinese Grand Prix, Isack Hadjar and Kimi Antonelli joined Piastri and Robert Doornbos in the club of drivers to never miss out on a Q3 appearance at Shanghai International Circuit. Both Antonelli and Hadjar reached Q3 for the first time in their Formula 1 career.
With ninth place, Yuki Tsunoda continued his 100% Q3 appearance rate in the 2025 season. He has reached Q3 at four of the last six Grand Prix weekends.
Tsunoda was out-qualified by his team-mate for the first time since the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.
Qualifying tenth, Alex Albon qualified in the top ten for a second consecutive race. It’s the first time since last year’s Mexico City and Sao Paulo Grands Prix that Albon has reached Q3 at successive races.
This was Albon’s first Q3 appearance in China, having exited in Q1 and Q2 on his previous two appearances at Shanghai International Circuit.
This was the first time since 2017 that a Williams driver reached Q3 at the Chinese Grand Prix.
OUT IN Q2
Esteban Ocon missed out on a place in Q3 at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, qualifying in 11th place. This marked the Frenchman’s best qualifying result to date in Shanghai. This was his third successive Q2 exit at the circuit.
This was the first time since 2017 that neither Haas driver reached Q3 at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Qualifying 12th, Nico Hulkenberg missed out on a place in Q3 at the Chinese Grand Prix for the first time since 2015.
Aston Martin recorded a double Q2 exit for the second consecutive race. This is the first time the team has recorded successive double Q2 exits since the 2018 Mexican and Brazilian Grands Prix, when the team was under its Racing Point guise.
Fernando Alonso qualified in 13th place for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. Having also exited in Q2 at the Australian Grand Prix, this was the first time that Alonso has qualified outside of the top ten at two consecutive races since the 2024 Spanish and Austrian Grands Prix.
Alonso’s third place in qualifying for the 2024 race remains the only time he has qualified in the top ten at the Chinese Grand Prix since 2014.
Lance Stroll recorded a fourth consecutive Q2 exit. He remains yet to out-qualify a team-mate in any of his five appearances at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Qualifying 15th, Carlos Sainz missed out on a place in Q2 for the first time since the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
ELIMINATED IN Q1
Both Alpine drivers were eliminated in Q1 at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. The team recorded their first double Q1 exit since the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix and their first double Q1 exit in China since 2016.
Pierre Gasly recorded his first Q1 exit since the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix and his first Q1 exit at the Chinese Grand Prix since 2018. This was the first time Gasly out-qualified a team-mate in his four Chinese Grand Prix appearances.
Qualifying 19th for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, Gabriel Bortoleto was out in Q1 for the first time in his career. It was the first time he was out-qualified by team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, having out-qualified him at the Australian Grand Prix and in Sprint Qualifying for the Shanghai sprint race.
Bortoleto made this the fourth consecutive Chinese Grand Prix in which the Sauber team recorded a Q1 exit. It’s also the 25th time in the last 27 races that the team has seen at least one of their drivers eliminated in the first stage of qualifying.
Setting the slowest time of the 20 drivers, Liam Lawson exited in Q1 for a second consecutive Grand Prix weekend. This was the first time that Lawson qualified last since making his debut at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix.
Lawson recorded Red Bull’s fourth Q1 exit at the Chinese Grand Prix – the team’s first here since 2017.
