Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1's youngest polesitter at the Chinese Grand Prix, beating George Russell by 0.222 seconds after the Mercedes driver suffered a late powertrain issue in Q3. Russell's car came to a stop on track, forcing him to limp back to the pits and costing him the chance at back-to-back poles.

Antonelli's benchmark time of 1m32.064s stood up as Russell managed only one final flying lap. Lewis Hamilton qualified third for Ferrari, just 0.315 seconds off pole, while Charles Leclerc took fourth. The McLarens locked out row three with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris by 0.06 seconds.

Pierre Gasly interrupted the Red Bull pairing by outqualifying both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. Verstappen was almost a second off pole in eighth, with teammate Hadjar and Haas's Oliver Bearman completing the top ten. The qualifying session saw several drivers affected by late yellow flags, including Esteban Ocon and the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.