Hamilton sees rivals behind after sharing the front row with Verstappen

A week after a disappointing start to his Ferrari career, Lewis Hamilton managed to bounce back immediately. The Briton looked confident in China, and also managed to take pole position for the Sprint on Saturday.

For the second year in a row, Hamilton is set to start the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix, but unlike last year, he was indeed the fastest driver in Sprint Qualifying. Looking ahead to tomorrow's first event, the seven-time world champion explained that this will be still relatively unknown for him.

"I didn't do a race run in Bahrain testing, we did the race last weekend in the wet but tomorrow will be my first real long-ish race run, then Sunday my first proper race run in the dry with this car," he said after the session has concluded.

Who will his rivals tomorrow according to Hamilton? "I'm hoping we can hold onto it but I think the McLarens are very fast, as is Max but we are in a good position, we will stay positive and keep our heads high, and keep pushing forwards."

Max Verstappen will line up alongside the British driver on the grid, after the Dutchman finished just 0.018 seconds behind Hamilton. The two McLaren drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, will start from P3 and P6 respectively tomorrow.

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