Lewis Hamilton secured a coveted maiden win as a Ferrari driver as he converted pole position to prevail in the Sprint race at the 2025 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.
Hamilton was imperious as he controlled proceedings during the 18-lap encounter in Shanghai, leading home McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Pirelli communicated in the lead-up that the minimum starting tyre pressures had been raised to 27.5 psi on the fronts and 24.5 psi on the rears compared to practice.
Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg, who was set to languish down in 18th place on the grid, was required to start from the pitlane as Sauber changed his suspension set-up.
But right at the front, Hamilton, having attained his first pole position in Ferrari red, was alongside Red Bull’s Verstappen as the two arch-rivals occupied the front row.
Verstappen made a strong start to threaten Hamilton, but the Ferrari moved across on the Red Bull to protect his lead as Piastri maintained third over Charles Leclerc.
Behind, Lando Norris attempted to go around George Russell’s outside to no avail and then ran deep into Turn 6, costing him three places to have him running in ninth.
Yuki Tsunoda, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Lance Stroll capitalised on his mishap, while Russell utilised the slipstream on the back straight to pass Leclerc into Turn 14.
Verstappen had expressed concern concerning Red Bull’s race pace and that was being realised as Hamilton grew his lead out to over a second to escape DRS threat.
Liam Lawson in the second Red Bull was bidding to make rapid progress and that impatience saw him bang wheels at the Turn 14 hairpin with Jack Doohan on Lap 5.
Verstappen had dropped to 1.3 seconds behind Hamilton six laps in, as Piastri in the lead McLaren was beginning to gain on the reigning F1 champion in the Red Bull.
But the Dutchman had hauled his Red Bull back into within DRS range on Hamilton ahead to preserve his position over Piastri as the top three scampered up the road.
Hamilton appeared to have overcome the graining phase on the Medium compound as he extended his lead on Lap 10, though, allowing Piastri to trouble Verstappen.
Sainz had also been struggling in race conditions and that prompted Williams to call him into the pits on Lap 11 to switch to new Mediums, demoting him to the back.
Piastri was closer than ever as Lap 14 began and Verstappen, who’d reported that his tyres were “dead”, had to dice to the inside going into Turn 1 to maintain second.
However, Verstappen was powerless to stop the Australian from using slipstream and DRS on the back straight to launch it down the inside at Turn 14 on the next lap.
But Piastri was in no shape to catch Hamilton as the margin stretched out to over six seconds, while team-mate Norris overtook Stroll at Turn 14 to steal eighth place.
Leclerc was coming on strong as the race drew to a conclusion to be in a position to challenge Russell, but the Briton repelled his advances into Turn 6 on the last lap.
However, Hamilton had been untroubled and he crossed the line to become a race winner as a Ferrari driver to land the Maranello-based squad’s debut Sprint triumph.
Piastri and Verstappen completed the top three as Russell resisted Leclerc in the sister Ferrari. Tsunoda edged out Antonelli to sixth as Norris salvaged a single point.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Chinese Grand Prix – Sprint Race Results
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