Lewis Hamilton claims first sprint race victory in Shanghai

Lewis Hamilton claimed his first ever sprint race victory Saturday afternoon in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race in dominating fashion, and this marks his first win in the Scuderia Ferrari colors. Hamilton lined up on Pole position for the 19 lap sprint race ahead of 4 time champion Max Verstappen.

Down on the grid during pre race introductions, there were last minute changes to Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber and he started the sprint race from the pit lane. On the opening lap as the five red lights went out, everyone got away smoothly but at the end of sector 1, Lando Norris, who had started 6th, dipped his left side tires into the grass, falling back multiple spots, ending up behind Lance Stroll in the 9th position at the end of the first lap.

Throughout the first couple of laps as everyone began to spread out, the top 3 of Hamilton, Verstappen, and Piastri began to pull away from the rest of the field and had a race of their own. Verstappen began to slowly close the gap to Hamilton but was not close enough for the DRS. About halfway into the 19 lap sprint race, Verstappen began to lose pace to Hamilton, allowing Oscar Piastri to close the gap to second place and Piastri eventually got by Verstappen on lap 16. Verstappen had said over the radio "Both of my front tires are dead" and as the laps went on, the tire degradation got worse for Verstappen.

Meanwhile, further back in the pack, Lance Stroll had reported to his team he was having a DRS issue. This allowed Lando Norris to close the gap and overtake Stroll for the 8th position. As the laps wound down, once Oscar Piastri had gotten by Verstappen, he had his eyes set on Lewis Hamilton for the lead. However, the pace from Piastri was not enough. Lewis Hamilton crossed the line to claim the checkered flag, not only for his first ever sprint race victory, but also his first with Ferrari as Oscar Piastri came across the line in 2nd with Verstappen in 3rd just ahead of George Russell in the 4th position. Further back in the pack, Charles Leclerc finished in the 5th position ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in 6th, Kimi Antonelli in 7th, and Lando Norris who had dropped places on the opening lap recovers to claim the last points paying position for the sprint race in the 8th position. On the last lap, Alpine driver Jack Doohan went for an overtaking opportunity on Gabriel Bortoletto in the hairpin in sector 3, but ended up colliding with the Sauber driver, spinning Bortoletto out, causing minor damage to both of their cars.

Lewis Hamilton claiming his first ever sprint race victory means he joins the list of Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Sergio Perez, and Lando Norris as sprint race winners in Formula 1.