SHANGHAI: Lewis Hamilton celebrated his first win for Ferrari on Saturday, answering his critics by leading the Chinese Grand Prix sprint from start to finish in only his second race for the Italian Formula One team.
The seven-times world champion, starting from a surprise pole position, managed his tyres superbly to take the chequered flag 6.889 seconds clear of McLaren's Oscar Piastri with Red Bull's Max Verstappen finishing third in the 100km race.
It was the first time Hamilton, the winner of a record 105 regular grands prix who joined from Mercedes in January, and Ferrari had won a sprint since the shortened format was introduced in 2021.
McLaren's Lando Norris, winner of the season-opener in Australia, stayed top of the standings after struggling to seize a point in eighth. Norris now has 26 points to Verstappen's 24.
Hamilton's Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was fifth, behind Mercedes' George Russell.
“I woke up feeling great today,“ said Hamilton, whose masterclass performance was watched by father Anthony from the Ferrari garage.
“The first race (in Melbourne) was difficult,“ added the Briton of a Ferrari debut in which he finished only 10th.
“I really did feel a lot of people underestimated the steep climb it is to get into a new team, to become acclimatised within the team, understanding and communication - all sorts of things.
“The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping along the way, clearly not understanding maybe because they’d never had the experience or just were unaware.
“So it felt great to come here and be more comfortable in the car because in Melbourne I didn’t feel comfortable in the car. From lap one here this weekend, (I was) really feeling on it. The engineers and mechanics have done a great job.”
'Push harder'
Hamilton led away cleanly from the start, with last year's sprint winner and reigning champion Verstappen slotting into second.
The Dutch driver then slipped back into the clutches of Piastri, who overtook in the closing stages.
“We didn’t quite have enough pace for Lewis in front but we have some good ideas for this afternoon and tomorrow to see if we can go one better,“ said the Australian.
“We have good pace in the car but have some competition this weekend as the Ferraris look rapid.”
Qualifying for Sunday's main grand prix followed later and four-times world champion Verstappen, who also won on Sunday in Shanghai last year, will still be a threat.
“Unfortunately, the last eight laps we didn’t have the pace of the others so I was trying to survive out there,“ he said. “I definitely take P3. It was tough to manage the tyres, but it’s OK, we will try to do better.
“In general, we just lack a bit of pace so you have to push harder and that hurts your tyres.”
Further back, Yuki Tsunoda continued to suggest he might have been a stronger option than Liam Lawson as Verstappen's new teammate with sixth place for sister team Racing Bulls. Italian 18-year-old rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was seventh for Mercedes, maintaining his 100% scoring record.
Aston Martin missed out on points with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso ninth and 10th. French
rookie Isack Hadjar , who crashed out before the start in his Australian debut, raced to 13th for Racing Bulls with Lawson 14th and Haas's Oliver Bearman 15th, ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon.
Australian Jack Doohan was last for Renault-owned Alpine and summoned to stewards for an incident with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto. (Writing by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Peter Rutherford )
