Hamilton storms to Sprint victory and first Ferrari win in China ahead of Verstappen and Piastri

Lewis Hamilton has 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.

One change had been confirmed to the grid ahead of the Sprint, as Nico Hulkenberg would start from the pit lane after his Kick Sauber was modified under parc ferme conditions. When the tyre blankets came off prior to the formation lap, it was revealed that all 20 cars had bolted on used medium tyres.

As the lights went out for the 19-lap encounter, Hamilton smoothly held the lead into the first corner while Piastri attempted to challenge Verstappen and Norris went side-by-side with Russell. This did not pay off for the championship leader, however, with a lock-up dropping Norris down to P9.

Russell and Tsunoda had both made gains by Lap 2, the Mercedes having taken P4 from Leclerc while Tsunoda had made up two places from his P8 grid slot to be running in P6 for Racing Bulls. Up at the front, meanwhile Hamilton was looking comfortable, stretching out a gap of 1.1s on Verstappen.

While Verstappen looked to close the gap to his former title rival, replays showed his Red Bull team mate Liam Lawson going wheel-to-wheel with Alpine’s Jack Doohan in a scrap for P18, the New Zealander clearly in fighting mode following a disappointing Sprint Qualifying on Friday.

By Lap 6, Hamilton was still over a second clear of Verstappen – but the Dutchman had Piastri chasing him down in the McLaren, with the gap standing at around 0.7s. Behind them, the other drivers running in points-paying positions were Russell, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Antonelli and Lance Stroll.

Out of those positions was Norris, the McLaren driver having tyre issues as he struggled to close in on the Aston Martin of Stroll. Also facing concerns with their tyres was Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion suffering graining on his front left – allowing Verstappen to edge closer to the Ferrari.

As Lap 11 ticked down, the picture had evolved again as Hamilton stretched out the gap again – while Verstappen was now facing pressure from Piastri, the Australian just over half a second back.

Elsewhere there was plenty of action across the field, with Lawson picking off Carlos Sainz before the Williams made a visit to the pits for a fresh set of medium tyres, dropping him to the back of the field.

"How can we help?" Norris was asked by his race engineer on Lap 13, leading the championship leader – still unable to catch Stroll for eighth – to respond: “I'm flat out”. His McLaren team mate Piastri, meanwhile, was trying to find a way past Verstappen into Turn 1 before backing off, with the World Champion commenting: “Both of my front tyres are dead.”

By Lap 15 Verstappen could hang on no longer, with Piastri edging past the Red Bull to sweep into second. But with Hamilton now more than three seconds up the road, could he catch the Sprint leader?

The action was heating up behind the top three, with Leclerc scrapping with Russell for P4. But there were no such troubles for the other red car as Hamilton took the chequered flag by a whopping 6.889s ahead of Piastri, while Verstappen had to settle for third.

Russell ultimately won out in that late fight with Leclerc, holding off the Ferrari by just over half a second, with Tsunoda taking some valuable points in sixth for Racing Bulls after the squad missed out last weekend in Melbourne.

Antonelli crossed the line in seventh, while Norris eventually took eighth to claim the final point on offer. Stroll and Aston Martin team mate Fernando Alonso missed out in ninth and 10th, as did Alex Albon in 11th for Williams – who dropped down from his P9 starting slot – and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in 12th.

Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, Lawson and the Haas pair of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon followed from P13 to P16 respectively, with Sainz in P17. Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto took P18 after making contact with Doohan at the end of the event, while Hulkenberg was P19 and the aforementioned Doohan claimed P20.

Key quote

"I woke up feeling great today," said Hamilton. "I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the really steep climb it is to get into a new team, to become acclimatised within a team, understanding and communication, all sorts of things.

"From Lap 1 here this weekend, really feeling on it. We’ve done a great job – the engineers have done a great job, mechanics have done a great job to really finetune the car and it felt great today. I got a good start and then there’s so much grip on this new tarmac. It’s really hard to look after these tyres but I think everyone was struggling the same."

What's next

Following the Sprint, the drivers will next hit the track during Qualifying for the Grand Prix later on Saturday, with the session set to begin at 1500 local time. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.