Lewis Hamilton secures first Ferrari victory in thrilling Chinese GP Sprint race

Lewis Hamilton achieved his first win as a Ferrari driver with a commanding lights-to-flag victory in the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix. In only his second race weekend sporting red, Hamilton qualified on pole and dominated the 19-lap race held on Saturday morning in Shanghai.

Reflecting on his performance, Hamilton said, "From Lap 1 here this weekend, I've been feeling on it. The engineers have done a great job to really fine-tune the car -- it felt great today. There's so much grip on this new tarmac, it's hard to look after these new tires, and I think everyone was struggling out there the same."

Hamilton continued, "The amount of critics and people I've heard yapping along the way just clearly not understanding. So it's felt great to come here and feel comfortable in the car, because in Melbourne I didn't feel comfortable in the car."

Hamilton managed to fend off Max Verstappen for the first 10 laps, before the Red Bull driver faced front tire issues. Verstappen then focused on defending from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who overtook him for second place on Lap 15. Piastri ended up 6.8 seconds behind Hamilton at the finish line.

Hamilton's triumph invigorates Ferrari’s championship hopes after a tough opening round in Australia. He earned eight points for the victory, adding to the single point from Australia, entering the rest of the weekend with boosted confidence for more success with Ferrari.

Lando Norris, winner of the season's first race in Melbourne, finished eighth in the sprint, scoring just one point after a mistake at Turn 6. "At the minute in the race, I just feel dreadful," said Norris.

George Russell took fourth for Mercedes, passing Charles Leclerc at Turn 14 on the first lap. Leclerc finished fifth, followed by Yuki Tsunoda in sixth for Racing Bulls, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who secured seventh for Mercedes.

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