@Max33Verstappen beats @LewisHamilton to #ChineseGP Sprint victory by 13.043s. #F1

Verstappen Chinese GP Sprint Victory – Championship leader Max Verstappen cruised to a comfortable victory in the first Sprint race of the season at the Chinese GP beating Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton by a solid 13.043 seconds as Sergio Perez completed the podium for Red Bull.

When the 19 lap 100km Chinese GP Sprint began, Hamilton made a great start off the line and ran wheel-to-wheel making his way into the lead after holding the inside line into turn one and pushing pole-sitter Norris wide.

Norris fell down into seventh place after being pushed off and was behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

At the end of the opening tour, Hamilton lead was up to 0.914 seconds over Alonso with Verstappen third, Sainz fourth, Perez fifth, Leclerc sixth, Norris and Piastri completing the top eight runners.

Sainz was all over the back of Verstappen as the latter over the radio complained of his battery going off and his race engineer Giampiero Lambiase telling the Dutchman “Mode 8” to get it up to speed.

Lap five saw Hamilton’s gap to Alonso increased to 1.544 seconds with Verstappen third, Sainz fourth, Perez fifth, Leclerc sixth, and the two McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri rounding out the points-paying positions.

Perez also was given instructions from his Red Bull team about engine mapping as the two RB20’s dealt with power-unit issues.

With DRS assistance on the back straight, Verstappen got into the slipstream to snatch second place off Alonso as he passed the Aston Martin on the inside before reaching the turn 14 hairpin right-hander.

On lap eight in the battle for the lead, race leader Hamilton ran wide at the turn 14 hairpin, allowing second-placed Verstappen to draw ever closer to the Mercedes.

Lap nine Verstappen activated his DRS and down the back straight moved into the slipstream of Hamilton’s F1 W15 entry and moved to the inside of the Briton and passed the Silver Arrow into the turn 14 hairpin to grab first place.

At the beginning of lap 11, Verstappen’s lead was up to 2.027 seconds over Hamilton with Alonso third, Sainz close to his fellow Spanish-compatriot in fourth, Perez fifth, Leclerc sixth and the two MCL38 entries of Norris and Piastri completing the points positions.

A tour later in the fight for fourth place, Sainz suffered a lock-up at the turn six right-hand hairpin, falling into the clutches of Perez’s Red Bull.

The Ferrari driver managed to keep the Mexican behind as the train behind third-placed Alonso continued to tighten.

On lap 14, sixth-placed Leclerc had a look on the outside of Perez’s RB20, but the latter managed to hold fifth position from the Ferrari.

With five laps remaining, Verstappen held a 7.7 second gap over Hamilton with Alonso third, Sainz fourth, Perez fifth, Leclerc sixth and the two McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri rounding out the top eight.

A lap later, third-placed Alonso suffered a lock-up at the turn six hairpin as Sainz had a look on the outside as the AMR24 covered the Ferrari, then Sainz went to the inside of Alonso in the sweeping turn seven left and right hander, as both drivers hit tyres and made his way ahead into third before Alonso made a late lunge into turn eight pushing the Ferrari wide allowing Perez to take the final podium place.

Alonso and Sainz’s incident is currently under investigation by the stewards as the former suffered a puncture in the battle with his fellow Spanish-compatriot and was forced to retire from the Sprint.

A tour later, Leclerc wrestled his way ahead of Ferrari team-mate Sainz to snatch fourth place as the latter fell into the hands of Norris’ McLaren.

Verstappen crossed the line to take the Chinese GP Sprint victory by 13.043 seconds over Hamilton as Perez completed the top three by a further 15.258 seconds adrift of his Red Bull Sprint-winning team-mate.

The two SF-24 entries followed with Leclerc in-front of team-mate Sainz in fourth and fifth respectively as the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri placed sixth and seventh as Mercedes’ George Russell rounded out the final points place in eighth.

Home favourite Zhou Guanyu took ninth for Sauber as Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten.

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo was 11^th and in-front of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas who came 12^th in the order as Alpine pairing Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were 13^th and 15th respectively in the classification.

The sole-running Aston Martin AMR24 entry of Lance Stroll split the A524’s in 14^th whilst the second RB of Yuki Tsunoda finished the Sprint in 16^th and ahead of the two Williams’ of Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant who took 17^th and 18^th as the other VF-24 entry of Nico Hulkenberg brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix 2024 Sprint Results Classification at the link: https://www.skysports.com/f1/grandprix/china/results

2024 Chinese GP F1 Sprint – The Top Three

2024 Chinese GP Sprint Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT. RB20, (8 Points):

“The first few laps were hectic! The wind is changing a lot which makes it difficult to drive. [Battery issues] were only the first few laps, once we sorted it out, we were okay.”

2^nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W15, (7 Points):

“That’s the best result I’ve had in a long time, so I’m super happy and grateful. We couldn’t fight the Red Bulls, the race was tough, but I found out a lot about the car through this short stint so I’m excited for the race tomorrow. We are still not as quick over a single lap – I don’t anticipate we’ll be fighting for the front row.”

3^rd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20, (6 Points):

“It was really difficult to get through Carlos and Fernando, we all had high degradation following each other and I was defending from Charles through Turn 14 but somehow I got through.”

Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings