Lewis Hamilton said it was “really special” to record his first victory for Ferrari after winning the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday in a dominant manner. Hamilton had resumed the 10th house in Melbourne during his debut Ferrari, but it was another story six days later in Shanghai. The seven times world champion has spread to the victory of pole position to add a Sprint victory to his six Grandes Petits triumphs on the circuit. The Englishman took the checkered flag 6.889 seconds ahead of the McLaren Oscar Piastri with the third Max Verstappen of Red Bull.
Hamilton came out of his car after the finish line at a crescendo of ranged Shanghai fans, which deployed huge banners displaying its number 44.
“It’s really a really special weekend so far,” said journalists at 40.
“China and Shanghai have always been really good for me since my first race here in 2007. It’s a song that I really like to drive.
“It is difficult to put in words what it does. Obviously, it is a sprint race, it is not the main race, but it is a good springboard.”
Hamilton used its vast experience to enjoy the pure air at the front of the peloton and breastfeed its tires on 19 laps on the Shanghai international circuit of 5.451 km.
“I think it is generally quite close between us all,” said Hamilton, now in Ferrari’s red after his Mercedes move.
“But the degradation of tires today was quite huge, I think for everyone.
“I was just trying to manage this early and the last one, like five laps or something, I was in a really comfortable position.”
‘Try to survive’
Piastri agreed that tires were the biggest problem.
“Probably one of the most difficult in terms of tire degradation,” said the Australian.
“So I knew I had to try to be patient.”
Verstappen pressure on Hamilton in the first half of the race, but later suffered on the cooked rubber allowing Piastri to pass four laps.
“Unfortunately, the last eight laps, we did not have the rhythm of the others, so I was trying to survive there,” said Verstappen, who won the sprint and the main race in China last year.
“I definitely take P3. It was difficult to manage the tires, but it’s ok, we will try to do better,” added the world champion, who pursues a fifth crown of consecutive pilots.
The former Hamilton teammate in Mercedes, George Russell, finished fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth in the other Ferrari.
Yuki Tsunoda in an RB was sixth, Kimi Antonelli de Mercedes was the seventh and the chief of the Lando Norris championship, who fought for the pace, took a lonely point in eighth for McLaren.
Norris started sixth but was caught in the Tour five traffic and fell to the ninth, outside the points, when he was passed by Antonelli, Tsunoda and Lance Stroll.
Norris managed to withdraw from the Aston Martin of Stroll late and still leads the early 26 -point championship, from Verstappen on the 24th.
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
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