INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
McLaren's Oscar Piastri seized the first proper pole position of his Formula One career at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday, with the
fastest lap yet around the Shanghai International Circuit.The Australian, a two-time race winner who had previously only taken sprint poles,
lapped the track in one minute, 30.641 seconds, and was joined on the front row for Sunday's race by George Russell, after the Mercedes
driver put in a storming final effort of 1:30.723.McLaren's Lando Norris, the championship leader and winner of the season opener in
Australia, abandoned his final lap & while Piastri improved his time & and will start third, with Red Bull's four-time defending world title
holder Max Verstappen fourth.Ferrari filled the third row with Lewis Hamilton securing the fifth spot, but 0.286 seconds off the pole after
winning the earlier sprint race, and teammate Charles Leclerc lining up sixth."The laps were a little bit scruffy, but I'm just pumped to be
on pole," said Piastri, who started on the front row in Australia, but finished ninth after spinning off the track.The first Australian to
grab a pole since Daniel Ricciardo in Mexico in 2018, and the 107th different pole sitter in F1 history, Piastri had finished second in the
He can now look forward to a much bigger haul of points on Sunday."It's awesome to have Oscar get his first pole
He's been close, a lot of front rows, and that was a mega lap," said McLaren Chief Executive Zak Brown.Norris congratulated Piastri on his
success, and was much happier with his own car after laboring to eighth in the sprint."We changed quite a lot on the car (after the sprint)
because we were nowhere," he said, blaming himself for several mistakes.
