Hamilton shocked by record sprint pole time

Lewis Hamilton said he was "gobsmacked" as he put Ferrari on pole position for the first Formula One sprint race of the season in China in record time on March 21, with Red Bull's reigning world champion Max Verstappen joining him on the front row.

- SHANGHAI

Seven-time world champion Hamilton lapped with a best time of 1min 30.849sec, the fastest ever around the Shanghai International Circuit, with Verstappen just 0.018sec slower.

It was the Briton's first pole position of any sort for the Italian team since the sport's most successful driver joined from Mercedes in January.

"I'm just a bit gobsmacked, taken aback by it. Even though it's not the main pole, that gives me real inspiration for tomorrow to find more performance," Hamilton said.

"To come here to a track that I love; Shanghai, beautiful place, and the weather has been amazing and the car really came alive from Lap 1.

"We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I'm a bit in shock. I can't believe we got a pole in a sprint.

"It's not the main race, we've still got work to do for tomorrow but it puts us in good stead for the race."