From a European perspective, there was nothing surprising in the sprint race of the Chinese Grand Prix, which began with a less than friendly interval. However, from a historic perspective, there was!
Lewis Hamilton made a perfect start, and the entire field cleared the starting line without any problems. Not long after, Lando Norris, who was running in third place, tried to be overly bold and dropped back to ninth. Yuki Tsunoda, however, was better attuned to the rhythm, running in sixth place by the third lap—presumably not just for the valuable points, but also a bit for a place at Red Bull Racing. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson was busy with a controversial overtake in 18th place. At the front, Hamilton maintained his lead of about a second over Max Verstappen, but by lap eight, the Dutch attacker was within striking distance. Ultimately, nothing came of the move, so much so that instead of attempting an overtake, Verstappen had to watch out for Oscar Piastri approaching from behind. By this point, the battle lines had already hardened, and we were essentially seeing a train on the track. Eventually, Piastri caught Verstappen, but he had neither time nor tires to target Hamilton. The Briton won his first sprint race and celebrated the victory for Scuderia Ferrari ahead of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen.
Photo: sportnewsblitz
