Surprise qualifying star admits lap could have been even BETTER - Top three verdict

Red Bull have achieved their 100th pole position in a chaotic qualifying session in China.

Sprint race star Lewis Hamilton, failed to make it out of Q1 after a lock up into the final hairpin, and will start 18th in the Grand Prix.

READ MORE: F1 Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying Results: Hamilton embarrassed as Verstappen dominates

Carlos Sainz caused a red flag in Q2, with an unusual spin that resulted in a crash into the final corner.

Despite this Sainz still made it into Q3 but the Ferraris failed to threaten Red Bull’s dominance, the Austrian team sealing a front row lock-out.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was only 0.322 seconds behind the champion and claims there is ‘everything to play for tomorrow’.

Here’s what the top three had to say following qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix…

Max Verstappen

"After the Sprint race, it gave us a few more ideas for the car and I think the car worked even better in qualifying.

"Definitely very happy with how the whole of qualifying went. The car was really nice to drive and also in Q3, that final lap felt pretty decent. I'm also very happy to drive here in the dry. The conditions were pretty good, so it was a lot of fun."

READ MORE: Hamilton reveals F1 retirement plans

Sergio Perez

"It was very intense. I nearly got knocked out in Q1. I had traffic with one of the Williams, I had to abort my lap, drove back on hot, used tyres and just made it through in P15. It was just a very messy start to qualifying.

"Q2 was a little bit more straightforward. I could really get a read into the balance and we were making some nice progress through the session.

"Unfortunately it was just not enough to get Max, but overall it’s a tremendous team result because the track has changed a lot. We changed a lot the car as well to adapt to the conditions, so hopefully that will also pay out tomorrow.

"It’s everything to play for tomorrow. We can be fighting from there and we can definitely have a strong rhythm. We showed today that we have fairly good pace in the long run, so I look forward to tomorrow."

Fernando Alonso

"Sector One I had a moment in Turns One and Two and I nearly lost the car. Then I said 'OK, I keep going or abort the lap' because I lost two tenths in two corners.

"We didn't give up and kept on pushing through the lap and set a good lap time. The car improved since the Sprint. We made a few setup changes, let's see if we can convert that into points.

"I'm extremely happy and proud of the team. We are not giving up and are not in the position we want yet but we keep pushing."

READ MORE: Marko teases RB driver switch after Ricciardo's NIGHTMARE start

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