FACTS AND STATS: Piastri puts Australia back on top in Qualifying for the first time since 2018 with Shanghai pole

Oscar Piastri grabbed a maiden pole position for McLaren in China, having started from P1 in a Sprint but never a Grand Prix. He will share the front row tomorrow with George Russell, who found some last-gasp pace to deny Lando Norris a McLaren front row lock-out. But what else happened on a busy Saturday in China? Here are the best facts and stats from Shanghai…

• Piastri is the 107th driver to take a pole position in Formula 1. The last new polesitter to actually start from P1 was George Russell at Hungary in 2022.

• Piastri is the first Australian to start from pole since Daniel Ricciardo at Mexico in 2018.

• The margins at the front are small – just 0.084s in Australia, and 0.082s in China.

• McLaren are Mercedes share the front row for the Grand Prix, while Ferrari and Red Bull did likewise for the Sprint.

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch-up with Hamilton's dominant maiden Ferrari victory in the Chinese Sprint

• Russell was second, having never qualified higher than P8 in his previous races in Shanghai. He bagged his fourth front row start in the last six races.

• Norris grabbed P3, having been out-qualified by his team mate for the first time in nine races.

• Max Verstappen was fourth, a position no one has won from at Shanghai.

• Lewis Hamilton bagged fifth, four places lower than his starting slot for the Sprint. His Q3 lap was 0.078s slower than his Sprint pole lap.

• Charles Leclerc was sixth here for the second year in a row, having been out-qualified by Hamilton in both sessions this weekend.

• Isack Hadjar was the fastest rookie as he grabbed P7, which is Racing Bulls’ highest qualifying position here for 12 years.

• Kimi Antonelli was eighth, significantly better than the P16 he managed in Melbourne.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the thrilling Qualifying action from China as Piastri storms to his first Grand Prix pole position

• Yuki Tsunoda made it two Q3 appearances this season with ninth on the grid.

• Alex Albon was P10, for his team’s highest start in China since 2017.

• Esteban Ocon made Q2 to qualify eight places higher than he managed in Australia.

• Nico Hulkenberg was 12th, Kick Sauber’s highest start this season as he out-qualified his team mate Gabriel Bortoleto for the first time.

• Fernando Alonso grabbed P13, out-qualifying his team mate Lance Stroll by 0.085s.

• Carlos Sainz’s P15 is his lowest start in seven Grand Prix appearances here.

• Both Alpines exited in SQ1 and Q1 in Shanghai.

• Ollie Bearman out-qualified Ocon in Sprint Qualifying, but the Frenchman took his revenge in Qualifying.

• Liam Lawson was the slowest qualifier in both Sprint Qualifying and Qualifying with P20.

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