Hamilton Chinese GP Sprint Victory – Sir Lewis Hamilton lead from the pole to take his first victory in red and the Scuderia’s initial in the F1 Sprint in the Chinese GP ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri as reigning world champion Max Verstappen rounded out the top three for Red Bull.
When the 19 lap 100km Chinese GP F1 Sprint began, pole-sitter Hamilton got an excellent getaway into turn one as Piastri came close behind Verstappen, but the Dutchman covered the McLaren.
Further behind McLaren’s Lando Norris suffered a lock-up into turn six and dropped down into ninth.
At the end of the opening tour, Hamilton a 0.700 second lead over Verstappen with Piastri third, Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth after passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top six.
At the beginning of lap three, Hamilton posted the fastest lap to increase his lead out front to Verstappen by 1.1 seconds to move himself out of DRS range.
Norris was all over the back of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in the battle for eighth and the final point on offer, whilst Leclerc had DRS on Russell a bit further up.
On the fourth lap, Verstappen had his tyres working well as he got back into DRS range of Hamilton – the latter running three laps older C3 mediums compared to the reigning world champion.
Whilst in third, Piastri was starting to close in on Verstappen.
On the fifth lap, Hamilton’s gap was back at one second with Piastri third, Russell fourth, Leclerc fifth, Tsunoda sixth, Andrea Kimi Antonelli seventh in the second Silver Arrow as Stroll completed the points runners.
On lap six in the fight for second, Piastri got into DRS range of second-placed Verstappen whilst at the rear the other Red Bull of Liam Lawson overtook Alpine’s Jack Doohan for a low-18th.
Hamilton increased his lead to 1.4 seconds over Verstappen pulling out of DRS range once more as Piastri closed in on the Dutchman.
On the eighth tour, Hamilton’s gap to Verstappen dropped to 0.3 seconds with Piastri also 0.3 off as a thrilling battle for the top three intensified. The question was who’s tyres are going to fall off the cliff first?
McLaren were expected to be good on their tyres, but Norris suggested otherwise reporting that they were gone and was why he could not close in on Stroll.
Up-front Hamilton was beginning to suffer with tyre wear as Verstappen closed in as the Dutchman once again got into DRS range.
On the tenth lap, Hamilton’s gap went back to 1.2 seconds over Verstappen with Piastri third and in DRS range of the Red Bull driver, Russell and Leclerc a distant fourth and fifth respectively, Tsunoda sixth with Antonelli stuck behind the RB in seventh as Stroll rounded out the top eight.
Meanwhile on lap 11, Piastri was charging back towards Verstappen as the Dutchman ran wide at turn six and could set up an overtake on the back straight. The television showed that both Verstappen’s front tyres were graining.
Further back, Williams’ Sainz was told to box on lap 12 and put on a fresh set off mediums and emerged at the rear.
Whilst the top three battle continued to flourish, Russell was a distant fourth, running in fresh air so his rubber was looking in an ok state along with Leclerc in fifth.
Further down McLaren asked Norris: “How can we help?” to which the Briton replied: “I’m flat out”. The McLaren driver still struggled to get by the Aston Martin of Stroll in eighth.
On the 14th tour, Piastri had a look on the outside of Verstappen into turn one, but the latter covered the MCL39. This allowed race leader Hamilton’s lead to reach 1.9 seconds.
Once again on the 15th lap, Piastri had another look on Verstappen’s RB21, but the reigning world champion closed the door once more.
Verstappen reported: “His tyres are dead.” To the team.
With DRS range down the back straight Piastri made a lunge on the inside into the right-hand turn 13 hairpin to make his way ahead of Verstappen to snatch second place.
With two tours remaining, Hamilton’s lead was at 3.969 seconds over Piastri with Verstappen a further 1.329 seconds off in third, Russell fourth, Leclerc fifth, Tsunoda sixth with Antonelli tucked on the gearbox of the VCARB02 in seventh whilst Stroll completed the top eight points places.
Piastri reported his tyres were done and there was the end to the charge for the win as Hamilton’s lead reached 5.331 seconds, Verstappen’s tyres likewise as further back Norris made a move on the inside of Stroll into turn 13 to climb into the final point place.
On the final lap in the fight for fourth, Leclerc had a look around the outside of Russell’s F1 W16 entry, but the Briton covered the Ferrari.
With DRS range, Leclerc attempted once more on Russell but could not get by the Mercedes.
Hamilton crossed the line to take the Chinese GP F1 Sprint victory and his first for Ferrari by 6.889 seconds over Piastri as Verstappen completed the top three.
Russell and Leclerc followed in fourth and fifth places respectively as Tsunoda, Antonelli and Norris rounded out the final points places.
You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix 2025 F1 Sprint Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1255/china/sprint-results
2025 Chinese GP F1 Sprint – The Top Three
2025 Chinese GP Sprint Winner – Sir Lewis Hamilton, #44, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-25 – (8 Points)
“I woke up feeling great today, the weather is beautiful, and we have this amazing crowd. The [Sprint] was difficult, I think people underestimate the steep climb is it to get into a new team, understand a new team. So it is great to come here and feel more comfortable in the car as in Melbourne, I really didn’t feel comfortable in the car. It felt great today; I got a good start. I don’t feel the pressure, I know the team wants to win and it means everything to them. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so one day at a time.”
2nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL39 – +6.889s – (7 Points)
“I think it was a really productive Sprint. Second is a good result and we learned a lot. The way I got the result is an encouraging thing. We didn’t quite have enough pace for Lewis out front, but we have some good ideas for later and tomorrow. I think we have good pace in the car, but the Ferraris look pretty rapid.”
3rd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-Honda-RBPT, RB21 – +9.804s – (6 Points)
“I think it is positive, I tried to give it a go but unfortunately, the last eight laps we just didn’t have the pace to the others. Just trying to survive out there, I’ll take P3 as the others were catching up. It’s okay, we’ll try to make it better, look into the date but in general we just lack some overall pace.”
Points to be updated in due course. 2025 F1 World Championship Standings
Qualifying will begin in a few hours.