Hamilton Storms to Sprint Victory and First Ferrari win in China Ahead of Verstappen and Piastri
Lewis Hamilton claimed victory in the first Sprint of the 2025 season at the Chinese Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver putting in an assured drive to add to his tally of wins in Shanghai and claim his debut P1 for the Scuderia.
After a strong start when the lights went out, Hamilton went on to build a commanding lead and – while it was not entirely smooth sailing, his SF-25 experiencing graining on the tyres at one stage – the seven-time World Champion looked in stunning form across the 19-lap event.
Max Verstappen spent much of the Sprint running in second but lost out to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with a few laps to spare, putting the Red Bull in third, while Mercedes’ George Russell held onto fourth despite a late-race battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the latter having to settle for fifth.
Yuki Tsunoda was an impressive sixth for Racing Bulls, ahead of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli adding to the points he gained in Melbourne with two more in seventh. Lando Norris, meanwhile, ended the event in eighth after a wide moment early on cost him places, with the McLaren running out of the points for some time before snatching the position in the closing stages.
After just one practice session on Friday, Sprint Qualifying had decided the grid for the first 100km dash of the season, a format that awards points to the top eight finishers from a maximum of eight for P1 down to one for P8.
While McLaren had looked strong throughout the session, opting for a strategy of two push laps in SQ3 did not quite pay off for the reigning Teams’ Champions, with Piastri and Norris ending the session in P3 and P6 respectively.
Hamilton, meanwhile, stormed to a surprise pole in the Ferrari, while Verstappen – who took victory in the Shanghai Sprint back in 2024 – was only 0.018s away in second place.
