Lewis Hamilton said he was “gobsmacked” to take his first pole position for Ferrari for the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Hamilton out-qualified Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth and Lando Norris’ McLaren sixth.
The seven-time champion, who qualified eighth and finished ninth on his Ferrari debut in Australia last weekend, said: “I’m a bit taken aback by it.
“I didn’t know when we would get to this position and, after last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week. I came here with aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place.
“I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car and I can’t believe we are at the front. I am just a bit gobsmacked.”
Hamilton said: “Even though it’s not the main pole it gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow and try to find more performance and see if we can compete again. There’s definitely a little more performance to find, for sure.”
Hamilton out-qualified Leclerc by 0.208 seconds and Norris by 0.544secs.
The result gives Hamilton prime starting position for the shorter sprint race on Saturday, at 03:00 GMT, after which the teams can modify their cars’ set-ups before grand prix qualifying at 07:00.
