Chinese GP qualifying: Oscar Piastri on pole, George Russell on front row - ESPN

Oscar Piastri took the first pole position of his career in a tight qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix after beating Mercedes' George Russell to the fastest lap by 0.082 seconds.

Russell's lap, which appeared to come from nowhere at the end of the session, split the two McLarens, with Lando Norris forced to settle for third place after he aborted his final attempt in Q3.

Piastri admitted to struggling with his car's balance on his Q3 lap, but still set two times that would have been good enough to secure pole ahead of Russell, with his fastest lap 1:30.641.

«In Q3 I just found a lot of pace,» Piastri said. «Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling and the car just came alive in Q3 and I think I came alive in Q3, so I'm happy with what I did at the end. The lap was still a little bit scruffy, but I'm just pumped.»

On the track surface and tyre management, he said: «I think you've probably seen a lot of snaps and moments this weekend with the surface we've got, it's pretty tricky but when you hook it up it's pretty mega so I'll take the fastest lap of Shanghai.»

Russell said he tried something «completely different» with his tyre preparation ahead of his final Q3 attempt, which was enough to beat Norris' best lap by 0.070 seconds and snatch second from McLaren.

On Thursday, Russell said McLaren had a bigger performance advantage over the rest of the field than Red Bull ever enjoyed during its period of dominance, but his qualifying lap on Saturday seemed to disprove that theory.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen secured fourth place on the grid for Red Bull ahead of Saturday's sprint race winner Lewis Hamilton, who was fifth fastest ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton looked dominant in the 19-lap