Chinese GP sprint 2025: Lewis Hamilton takes first Ferrari win
Lewis Hamilton won the first victory for Ferrari on the team’s second outing only in the sprint in the Chinese Grand Prix.
The seven-time champion beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s challenge in the first corner of the run and controlled the game from there.
After a few laps of clutch by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Verstappen fell from Ferrari, who passed the World Championship at five laps.
McLaren’s Lando Norris managed to save a little bit after a tough game, and he passed Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, with two laps.
Hamilton’s victory was inspiring after his disappointing Ferrari debut at Australia’s opening match last weekend, with him finishing eighth and ninth.
After his engineer Riccardo Adami won, he praised him on his slowed legs because he was the day when every other driver was working to keep his rubber going.
Hamilton savored the cheers packed with stands after climbing out of the car right out of the pit at the end.
“I woke up today and felt great,” he said. “The first race was difficult and I did feel a lot of people underestimating the steep climbs that went into the new team through communication and understanding and a lot of things.”
“The number of people I hear is probably because they don’t do it and have no experience.
“I came here, engineers and mechanics did a great job of fine-tuning the car, and it felt great today. There’s a lot of grip on this new tarmac, but I think everyone is struggling.”
Verstappen looks like he can challenge Hamilton in the early stages, but the 40-year-old starts to stand out after about eight laps as the Dutch slips back to Piastri’s clutch.
The Australians paid a few laps for their time, approaching the back of Red Bull, and then drove the clinical pass into round 14 on lap 14.
“It’s a very productive sprint. Ranking second is always a good result, and I learned a lot. As a result, the results I get are encouraging things.
“We don’t have the pace ahead for Lewis, but we have some ideas to see if we can go better.”
“I tried to give it a try, but unfortunately we just didn’t have the pace of others, so I was just craving to survive there, so I’d definitely take P3. Managing tires is hard.
“Overall, we just lack some overall rhythm, so you have to push some speed harder and that will kill your tires.”
Melbourne champion Norris went back from the sixth lap on the first lap, went wrong in the sixth lap, and after clearly misjudging his brakes, he braked behind Russell and lost three positions.
Norris spent most of the time complaining about him not having the grip of the front tires and not being able to walk faster, but when Stroll himself was in trouble at the end stage, he pounced.
Behind Verstappen, Mercedes’s George Russell ranked fourth through Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, diving along the inside of the hairpin at the long lap of the first lap.
Leclerc returned to Russell at the end stage, but the British were able to keep him out.
Yuki Tsunoda finished an excellent sixth place in the Racing Bulls, defending against Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes throughout the race.
