Following a nail-biting sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix, Ferrari's seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton delivered an eye-catching lap to secure a sensational pole position for the 100km dash.

Ferrari

"It was mega! Really happy with the result. We knew there was more in the car after Australia, and here, it just came alive from lap one. The team’s done a great job since Melbourne.

"Pole for the Sprint Race is a great place to be, but there’s still work to do. I’ve not done a proper race run in the dry yet, so tomorrow will be a real test. The other teams will be quick, but we’re in the fight and will keep pushing."

"We didn’t put it all together today. Our main challenge was in turns 1 to 3 and apart from that everything was quite tight, so we will see where we stand tomorrow. It’s not ideal to start the Sprint Race from P4, but I will give it my all to fight my way to the front. Our main focus around here will be on tyres, and then we will see what’s possible in Qualifying ahead of Sunday’s race."

Red Bull

“I’m very happy with my performance today. I think that in the first practice session we were quite a bit off so I’m really pleased with being on the front row. The lap was very good: it is always very tough to go from a medium to a soft tyre, so to nail the lap with no references was great for us. Of course, when you look at it, we were incredibly close off pole so I am very happy to be second.

"I don’t think we should have been on the front row and we didn’t make any dramatic changes in the set up. We kept trying to maximise everything that we had, especially when we were struggling a bit more for pace. This is good for us and a little motivation boost. The McLarens looked fast up until the last run so it will be hard to keep them behind during the Sprint but hopefully it will be fun.”

“On my second lap I went off and it is obviously a shame. I am disappointed because we started ok and it’s a shame to miss out on SQ2 for a small mistake. From a starting point it wasn’t too bad, and we were looking to build in the session from there. We stayed out to try and cool the tyres on track and to be honest, I really struggled to get the temperatures down to start my second lap.

"We started too hot and through the lap I struggled, it is really frustrating. Our pace was there and indicates we should be a lot further up than we are. We have tomorrow’s Sprint to try and learn some stuff and we want to do a better job in quali, to put the car where is should be.”

McLaren

"A frustrating Sprint Qualifying. I struggled with the car today at times and the conditions made it challenging. I pushed a bit too hard on my final lap which has put me lower in the order than we wanted.

"Overall, the car is still in a good window so there's a lot we can take from today’s sessions. We’ll now focus on working hard overnight as a team to get ready to go again tomorrow and score strong points."

"Overall, a positive first day on track in China. SQ1 and SQ2 felt good, we just couldn’t get the pace out of the car in SQ3. It's been challenging at times adapting to the track’s new surface, the grip's been a lot better than last season which is nice, but it's very peaky.

"It was tough to keep on top of the car at times, but the team did a good job of taming it for Sprint Quali. The pace in the car is still very strong and I'm confident I can fight for a higher finish from third in tomorrow’s Sprint."

Mercedes

"It was tricky to extract the maximum from the tyres across Sprint Qualifying; one moment in SQ2 we were outside the top 10 and the next we were second, even though both laps felt similar. That shows how small the gaps were out there today, but I think P5 is probably a fair result.

"I was pretty happy with my lap in SQ3 and it’s not a bad place to start. It’s always tough to nail Sprint Qualifying having had so little laps on track in the only hour of practice, so we can be pleased with our efforts.

"Let’s see what happens tomorrow in both the Sprint and Qualifying. It was a surprise to see the McLarens struggle a little more in SQ3 and we have four different teams in the top five. We’ve definitely got the chance to move forward in the Sprint and challenge those ahead, so hopefully that is what we can do."

"I was feeling good with the car throughout Sprint Qualifying. My SQ2 lap was particularly strong, and I was hoping to build on that for SQ3. On the Soft compound though, I struggled in the first sector. The tyres were too cold, and I think we didn’t quite get the warm-up right on the out lap. The upside is that it was a better Qualifying session than Melbourne and I continue to build my learning.

"Let’s see what we can do tomorrow now. Starting P7 leaves us with work to do but I’ve felt comfortable and confident in the car today. My pace on the Medium tyre was particularly good so hopefully that translates into the rest of the weekend across all compounds."

Racing Bulls

"In SQ1 I felt very good and strong in the car, and we were quite close to the top guys. After that, I knew I had to put a good lap in SQ2 to get through to SQ3, but unfortunately, I overdid it and I had to abort the lap. I think everyone out there is struggling here, as it’s a tough track for the tyres on the entry phase and they just overheat throughout the corner. It’s a shame as it seems we have a decent car, but it’s still training and we’ll understand what went wrong today ahead of tomorrow’s Sprint and Qualifying.”

Yuki Tsunoda, 8th, 1:31.773
“I’m happy with the result obviously and how it came out. We could have done a couple of things better in terms of set up, it didn’t feel 100% and we weren’t able to extract the performance of the car, we’ll have to look through it, but yeah, I’m very happy. It was a shame for Isack, but at the same time he gave a nice tow to me in SQ2, that helped, so thank you to him, it was a good team effort. Let’s see tomorrow!”

Williams

"I’m pretty happy, but I think we have a bit of work to do with the car. This track isn’t quite suiting us at the minute so we need to make a few changes. It’s not that easy to know what to do with the tyres, they’re quite sensitive.

"Long corners, like those here in China, tend to make the tyres work harder. It’s hard to get them to a good place and it feels like you have to manage them, and overmanage them in many ways. We’ll do some work overnight and try to come back stronger tomorrow."

"I’ve struggled all day with the balance and both sessions have been quite tough. In Sprint Qualy we had a few issues, including a weird feeling with the seat that we’ll look into, but overall it comes down to me still not feeling at home in the car.

"I still have to learn and understand many things about it and I know with more mileage, it will come. Hopefully tomorrow we can put everything together and improve today’s result for Sunday."

Aston Martin

"I am quite happy with Sprint Qualifying today as the car felt quite competitive. SQ1 went very well for me and in our first push lap we managed to finish second. I just missed out on the top 10 in the end, but it's good that we got one car into SQ3. It's clearly very close in the midfield and let's see what we can do in the Sprint. Our main focus is still very much on Qualifying and the main race, but tomorrow's Sprint gives us another opportunity to try score some points."

"Sprint Qualifying was a strong session for us today, and I'm happy to have made it to SQ3. We decided to run used softs throughout SQ3 to save tyres for Qualifying tomorrow, so it's still hard to gauge how we compare to those around us, especially with how tight the midfield is. We will continue to look at how we can improve for the rest of the weekend."

Haas

“It’s for sure disappointing to be knocked out, but I think there are positives as obviously Ollie got up there and we look to be more in the mix than we were in Melbourne. We’ve definitely found some pace as a team, and that’s very positive. On my side we need to look at what went wrong in this short session. So, we have to dig, but overall – much better than Melbourne.”

“I’m happy with the feeling underneath me today. From the first lap in FP1 I knew it would be a bit of a better weekend than we had in Melbourne. I felt comfortable with the car straight away, which is always a nice start to the weekend – and we managed to show a bit of pace out there today.

"I was still building up to the track, there’s quite a few long unique corners at this track which are tough to get your head around in such a short time. There’s definitely more time to be found, I think we could have had SQ3 in the car today.”

Kick Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg, 19th, 1:32.675
"Unfortunately, it was a short Sprint Qualifying session for me. I think the first lap looked promising, but on the second run, many drivers managed to improve their lap times, whereas we didn't.

"We'll need to look into the data to understand what happened and how we can make further gains. This morning in free practice my lap looked pretty competitive, but for some reason, we weren’t able to replicate that performance in this afternoon’s session."

"It’s been an encouraging start to the weekend, and a solid sprint qualifying session overall. SQ1 went well, and in SQ2, I gave it everything, but closing the six-tenths gap to SQ3 was always going to be a challenge – I am still satisfied with the result we brought home.

"The windy conditions made it tricky at times, but overall, I’m happy with the progress made throughout the day. Now, the focus shifts on tomorrow, with the Sprint, first, and the main qualifying; we’ll keep pushing to make the most of every opportunity."

Alpine

Pierre Gasly, 17th, 1:32.640
“It’s a frustrating outcome today and I am disappointed for the whole team with the result to be out in SQ1. The car felt good, it had pace and we just had some traffic at the start of our push lap, which cost us some lap time. These fine margins can be very costly as has been the case today. We made good progress between Free Practice 1 and SQ1 and I really feel we should be fighting for SQ3 as it is very close amongst a number of cars in the midfield.

"Tomorrow, we will give it everything and just try to maximise what we can. It will be hard to make progress in the Sprint Race but we will give it our best and really focus on getting it right in Qualifying when it all counts. I am confident we can put it in the mix tomorrow and we will stay positive and aim to do just that.”

“It was clearly not the result we wanted today but I am pleased with how the car felt. In the end, a combination of factors fed into the frustrating outcome in Sprint Qualifying, particularly traffic on track during the push lap, but we will keep our heads down and aim to maximise what we can from the Sprint Race in the morning.

"Fortunately, I completed the majority of our run plan in Free Practice 1 before the issue on track and it was important to get up to speed at this track in F1 machinery, especially with the new track surface, which provided plenty of grip. The car felt good across the day so we will look into the data and see what we can improve tomorrow in Qualifying and hopefully put ourselves in a much better position for the Grand Prix.”