Lewis Hamilton celebrated his first win as a Ferrari driver after a dominant performance in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race. He started from pole position and led from start to finish.

In only his second race weekend with Ferrari, Hamilton secured pole position and won the sprint race, which was held on Saturday morning in Shanghai before the main Grand Prix qualifying.

This victory marks Hamilton’s first win for Ferrari and his first sprint race win since the format was introduced in Formula 1 in 2021.

Hamilton mentioned feeling confident with the car throughout the weekend, praising the team’s efforts in fine-tuning it. He acknowledged the challenge of managing tires on the new track surface.

He also addressed the criticism he faced when joining Ferrari, highlighting the difficulty of adapting to a new team and communication styles. He expressed satisfaction in feeling comfortable with the car in Shanghai, contrasting it with his experience in Melbourne.

Hamilton successfully defended his lead against Max Verstappen for the initial laps, before Verstappen encountered tire issues and focused on holding off Oscar Piastri.

Piastri overtook Verstappen for second place but finished 6.8 seconds behind Hamilton.

Hamilton’s win brings renewed optimism for Ferrari after a challenging first race in Australia, suggesting a potential championship battle.

He earned eight points for the victory, adding to his previous point from Australia, and looks forward to the rest of the weekend with increased hope for a Grand Prix win with Ferrari.

Lando Norris, winner of the Australian Grand Prix, finished eighth in the sprint race, scoring one point after a poor start. He admitted struggling with the car’s performance in the race.

Norris mentioned a bad start and running onto the grass, making it difficult to recover. He acknowledged that his qualifying position also contributed to a challenging race.

George Russell from Mercedes finished fourth, overtaking Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari early in the race.

Leclerc finished fifth, followed by Yuki Tsunoda in sixth, who drove impressively for Racing Bulls, holding off the second Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.