F1 Chinese GP LIVE: Sprint qualifying start time and schedule as Lando Norris eyeing pole

Former Top Gear presenters have led the tributes to Eddie Jordan after his death at the age of 76.

Rory Reid described his former co-star as a “legend” while Chris Harris said the former Formula One team owner was a “pure force of nature”.

TV pundit and entrepreneur Jordan, who disclosed in December that he had been diagnosed with cancer, appeared on the BBC motoring show between 2016 and 2018.

Full piece below:

“Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers...far worse,” Hamilton said, in his press conference ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.

“The conversation that Max has with an engineer [Lambiase] over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.”

A new grand prix in Bangkok could soon come to fruition after Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali paid a visit to Thailand to discuss plans.

Domenicali travelled to the Asian country in the days following last weekend’s season opener in Australia, meeting Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

There, he heard about the nation’s ambitions to stage an inaugural F1 race on its streets.

Thailand is one of several countries eager to join an already packed calendar - but with the Dutch Grand Prix’s impending departure from the schedule in 2026, there may just be space for a new race down the line.

Former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan has died aged 76, his family have announced.

The Irishman revealed in December he was suffering with bladder and prostate cancer which had spread to his spine and pelvis.

A family statement, published by rugby club London Irish where Jordan was a patron, said he “passed away peacefully with family by his side in Cape Town” on Thursday.

Jake Humphrey, a friend and colleague of Eddie Jordan, told a story of the former Formula 1 team owner on BBC Radio 5 Live.

He said: "We will never see the likes of Eddie Jordan ever again. I remember him telling me a story once, this is in the days before everything was televised, he had two sponsors.

“He needed the money from both the sponsors to keep the team going so he put one sponsor on one side of the track, one sponsor on the other. Neither of them saw the full car, he put one sponsor on one side and the other on the other.

“So as the car comes down the straight he said 'look at that car covered in your branding. He was running between the two sponsors, neither of them aware there was another sponsor on the other side. Just to get through.”

Russell said of McLaren before this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix: "Their car should win every race but I don't think they will win every race this year. Let's see.

"The gap they have this year on everybody is bigger than Red Bull has ever had.

“But when Max was in that [2023] car he was pretty reliable every single lap he did, every single run in Q3, throughout qualifying, never really a question."

An old-school Irishman of quick wit and vibrancy, Eddie Jordan was a Formula One figure whose influence touched every corner of motorsport’s most-famed paddock throughout a career in the sport lasting over 30 years.

From a promising race driver and savvy team owner to a captivating broadcaster and erudite manager, Jordan’s sad passing at the age of 76 on Thursday, after a year-long battle with cancer, has sent shockwaves through a sport now in its pomp.

Full tribute below:

Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix and round two of the 2025 F1 season!

Lando Norris won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix for McLaren after surviving a slide off track in the rain and a late challenge from second-place Max Verstappen. George Russell was third for Mercedes.

Norris' teammate and potential title rival Oscar Piastri span off the road and recovered to finish ninth after a late overtake on Lewis Hamilton, who was 10th in a frustrating debut for Ferrari.

But what will happen in Shanghai this weekend? It is also the first sprint weekend of the new campaign!