Max Verstappen mounted a comeback from fourth place on the grid to come through and beat Lewis Hamilton to the win in Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix Sprint.
Following a sluggish start to the encounter, Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton and pulled clear to take the spoils in the first Sprint of 2024, with Sergio Perez third.
The rain that had disrupted proceedings had subsided in time for the truncated race, but overcast skies remained as Lando Norris parked his McLaren car at the front.
Norris opted for the middle-range Medium compound along with the remainder of the top 10 behind him, with George Russell – starting 11th – the outlier on the Softs.
The McLaren had been situated on the starting grid following the formation lap for a prolonged period and Hamilton got the superior launch to pull alongside Norris.
Norris attempted to hang it around the outside through the opening corners, but he ran wide and dropped several positions behind Fernando Alonso and the Red Bulls.
However, Perez was under pressure from Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and he moved up the Red Bull’s inside into Turn 5, with team-mate Charles Leclerc battling with Norris.
Leclerc managed to sweep around the outside of Norris into the left-handed Turn 9, as Sainz sized up Verstappen’s third place into the Turn 14 hairpin but to no avail.
Russell had not utilised the gripper rubber at the start and dropped to 12th but recovered and gained two positions on one lap on Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen.
Hamilton had expressed doubts over Mercedes’ speed during drier conditions, but the Briton was continuing to keep Alonso outside the critical one-second DRS range.
But while Alonso did not have that aid available to mount a challenge to Hamilton, the Spaniard in the Aston Martin had not come under intense pressure from behind.
However, that changed on the seventh lap as Verstappen closed on Alonso and breezed through down the 1.2-kilometre using DRS to progress up into second position.
Hamilton voiced concern with the balance and rotation of his car through the slow-speed sections of the lap over the team radio as Verstappen began to close the gap.
The seven-time F1 champion made a critical mistake under braking heading into the Turn 14 hairpin and went wide as he locked up, which put Verstappen on his back.
Having remained close enough through the first two sectors of the lap, Verstappen capitalised on DRS to pass Hamilton down the inside into Turn 14 to take the lead.
As one Mercedes was powerless to defend, Russell was attempting to bag the last remaining point as he overtook home favourite Zhou Guanyu to move up into ninth.
Hamilton’s hopes to respond were curtailed as Verstappen sauntered clear and created a three-second advantage within two laps as the field behind him bunched up.
Sainz was aiming to place an attack on Alonso for the final top-three place in the closing stages, but a lock-up into Turn 6 from the Ferrari driver piqued Perez’s interest.
Perez, however, had to place his car to the inside at Turn 14 on Lap 14 to prevent Leclerc from taking his fifth place, with the Mexican complaining about traction issues.
Having angled for a cutback on that lap, Leclerc tried to dance around the outside at the same corner next time around but a lock-up denied the Monegasque fifth place.
Sainz had been running an offset line through the opening bends to run in clear air and that enabled him to set up an overtake into Turn 5 as Alonso moved to the inside.
Although the two-time champion had a snap on the exit and looked to have succumbed to Sainz, Alonso held the inside line through the sweeps as he sought to defend.
However, his late move up the inside into Turn 9 compromised both drivers and allowed Perez to seize third place, with Leclerc also demoting Alonso down to sixth place.
Alonso and Sainz had made contact during a minor touch earlier in the battle which saw the Aston Martin driver pick up a puncture that would send him into retirement.
Leclerc had been poised to take fourth place from his Ferrari partner but Sainz held the inside line into the hairpin and pushed his team-mate outside the track on the exit.
A slide at the start of the next lap, though, did see Sainz relinquish the position to Leclerc, who moved clear as the Spaniard was made to fixate on Norris right behind.
Back at the front, Verstappen had been unopposed since overtaking Hamilton as the 2021 title rivals came home first and second, with Perez rebounding to secure third.
Leclerc’s late overtake on Sainz meant he headed the Ferrari battle, with Norris dropping from the front down to sixth as Oscar Piastri and Russell rounded the top eight.
Discussion about this post