Ferrari's driver Lewis Hamilton. AFP
Image: Fadel Senna / AFP
From start to finish, Lewis Hamilton led the 19 lap Sprint Race at the Shanghai Circuit in China for his maiden victory in a Ferrari.
The 40-year-old started from pole position after a lightning quick qualifying on Friday, putting himself ahead of Red Bull and McLaren on just his second dance in the horse.
Hamilton built himself a significant gap between P2, nipping and tucking the SF-25 like the seasoned 7-time World Champion that he is.
Oscar Piastri’s patience paid off after Max Verstappen’s tyres failed him yet again in the dying stages, allowing Piastri to slip by and take P2. Verstappen held onto P3 with Mercedes' George Russell claiming fourth.
Russell wasn’t given his P4 so easily with the other Ferrari driven by Charles Le Clerc, who finished P5, hunting him down in the final few laps.
The Japanese Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda put up another stellar performance, to back up his Australian weekend start, finishing in P6 for the raging bulls.
P7 was taken by the silver arrow rookie Kimi Antonelli, who showed that Australia was not a one-hit-wonder, claiming two more championship points and an incredible start to his F1 career.
Australian GP winner Lando Norris looked unlike himself during the sprint, even veering off the track and losing two places mid way through the race. Norris had to settle for P8 to earn the last bit of points up for grabs.
The Sprint race only awards points to the top 8 finishers, unlike the main race, which awards the top 10.
“I woke up feeling great today. I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the really steep climb it is to get into a new team, to become acclimated within a team, understanding and communication, all sorts of things.
"From Lap 1 here this weekend, I'm really feeling it. We’ve done a great job – the engineers have done a great job, mechanics have done a great job to really finetune the car and it felt great today. I got a good start and then there’s so much grip on this new tarmac. It’s really hard to look after these tyres but I think everyone was struggling the same,” Hamilton said.
The drivers will have a short break before preparations begin for the qualifying later this afternoon ahead of Sunday’s main race.
