“Unc Still Got It”: Red Bull Insider Among First to Cheer Lewis Hamilton on First Pole Position With Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton Scuderia Ferrari HP, 44 waves at the drivers parade, AUS, Formula 1 World Championship, Luis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park Circuit Melbourne, Race, 2025 season, 16 03 2025

Lewis Hamilton surprised everyone, including himself, by securing his first pole position for Ferrari in just his second race weekend for the team in China. The Briton beat his arch-rival Max Verstappen by less than two-hundredths of a second to claim the fastest lap in the sprint shootout. Oscar Piastri qualified third with a lap that was a tenth slower.

Not anticipating he would put in a pole-winning performance, Hamilton expressed his shock to his race engineer on the team radio. “Really,” he asked Riccardo Adami when told his lap time was good enough to start from P1 in the sprint race.

Hamilton, however, quickly got his composure back, stating to media persons in the post-qualifying interaction that it was not time to celebrate yet as the qualifying for the main race was pending. “I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe we got a pole in the sprint. It’s not the main race so we have some work to do for tomorrow,” he said.

“I didn’t expect that result but so happy and so proud. The last race was a disaster for us. We knew there was more performance in the car. It came alive from lap one,” added Hamilton, while congratulatory messages flooded social media. One of the first people to laud him was Red Bull’s e-sports driver Jarno Opmeer.

“Unc still got it,” wrote Opmeer on X.

Fans swarmed to Opmeer’s post to react to Hamilton’s brilliant lap. One fan wrote, “Class is permanent,” while many others shared similar exclamatory comments.

Hamilton has struggled immensely during qualifying in the past few years with Mercedes. And many had questioned whether he had still got it. There were times when he questioned his abilities too.

But with his pole with Ferrari, he may have done enough to silence his detractors, including the biggest critic of them all — himself.

The seven-time world champion was also relieved to put on such a performance after his disaster of a debut with Ferrari last weekend in Australia. He managed a 10th-place finish at Albert Park.

With the pole, a confident air has taken over the Ferrari camp, who are now confident of a better finish in China — podium, or even a victory.

Post Edited By: Leslie Xavier
Chinese GP ferrari Lewis Hamilton Red Bull

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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