Verstappen on Chinese GP pole as Hamilton only 18th

Chinese Grand Prix 2024: Max Verstappen on pole with Lewis Hamilton 18th

Max Verstappen was in imperious form as he took pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix, leading Sergio Perez to a Red Bull one-two.

Fresh from winning the first sprint race of the season earlier, Verstappen was 0.322 seconds clear of Perez.

The Mexican pipped Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin by 0.166secs with McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri next.

Lewis Hamilton had a dire day, qualifying 18th.

His Mercedes team-mate George Russell was eighth behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Hamilton - who made a mistake in the hairpin, running wide and costing himself some time - said he had made "massive" set-up changes to his Mercedes after finishing second to Verstappen in the sprint race.

"I'll give it my best shot - 18th is pretty bad," Hamilton said. "When I was making the set-up changes, I was like: 'It can't get any worse, surely.' And it did!"

Red Bull looked in a world of their own all day, even though Perez came close to being knocked out at the end of the first session after being caught up with traffic.

The surprise was Alonso, whose Aston Martin has not looked a match for Ferrari or McLaren generally this season, but third was an impressive outcome for the veteran Spaniard.

Alonso had run third for much of the sprint before damage from a collision with Sainz forced his retirement, but he made amends with a strong performance in qualifying for the grand prix.

Alonso said: "I had a moment in Turns One and Two and I was thinking about whether to abort or not, but we kept going and I set a good lap time. The car improved since this morning and we made a few changes."

Sainz crashed at the end of his first lap in second qualifying but managed to get the Ferrari back to the pits minus its front wing, where Ferrari discovered it was otherwise undamaged.

Stewards later dismissed a protest against Sainz. Aston Martin argued that, on the basis of a rule that says a driver whose car stops on track will not be permitted to take any further part in qualifying, he should be disqualified. Stewards ruled that he was permitted to continue because he had not received outside assistance to restart his car.

He and Leclerc were Red Bull's closest challengers in the second session, albeit more than 0.3secs off their pace, but they fell away in the final session allowing Alonso and the McLarens to start ahead.