Hamilton “gobsmacked” as he gets first Ferrari sprint pole

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is “a bit gobsmacked” after taking his first sprint pole of his nascent Ferrari era.

Hamilton came to Shanghai after a difficult weekend for both himself and Ferrari in Australia, only managing 10th in Melbourne through a lack of pace and poor strategy.

PLUS: Baptism of ire – how Hamilton’s Ferrari debut could have gone better

But the 40-year-old rebounded strongly in China by taking pole for Saturday’s first sprint race of the season in a new Shanghai track record, fending off reigning world champion Max Verstappen by 0.018 seconds, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also within a tenth.

“I didn’t expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud,” Hamilton said.

“Obviously, the last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car, but we just weren’t able to extract it.

“Coming here, the car really came alive from lap one. We made some great changes – the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready.

“I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe we actually got a pole in the sprint. It’s not the main race, so we’ve got work to do for tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the race.

“It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car. It’s pretty incredible.”

Expanding on his qualifying effort to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton said that he wasn’t sure when Ferrari would be in a position to compete at the front given McLaren’s early dominance, and he was “gobsmacked” to already be able to fight with the Woking squad.

“I’m just a bit gobsmacked – I was a bit taken back by it,” he said.

“I didn’t know when we would get to this position and, after last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week.

“We came 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 and I just can’t believe that we’re at the front and ahead of McLaren, which has been so fast throughout winter testing and obviously in the last race and even today.

“I’m really grateful just to be up there fighting with these great drivers and to be so close to these other teams.”

Hamilton explained he is still racing into the unknown for Saturday morning’s sprint as he hasn’t done a proper race run in dry conditions yet in the SF-25.

“I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain,” he said. “Obviously, we did the race last weekend in the wet, but tomorrow will be kind of my first real race run, and Sunday will be my first proper race run in the dry with this car.

“So, I’ll be learning. I’m hoping that we can hold on to it. But I think the McLarens are very, very, very fast, as is Max, but we’re in a good position.”