Lewis Hamilton wins Chinese GP sprint and hits out at ‘yapping’ critics

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain celebrates after winning the sprint race ahead of the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, Saturday, March 22, 2025 — Lewis Hamilton took victory in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race but had a word for his critics after - AP/Andy Wong

Lewis Hamilton hit out at “yapping critics” after claiming the first win of his Ferrari career in Saturday’s sprint race in China.

The seven-time world champion had, by his own admission, a “disastrous” debut in red in Melbourne last weekend. But he has been on the pace from the start in Shanghai, one of his most successful stomping grounds and a circuit on which he had already won six times heading into this week.

After taking his first ever sprint-race pole on Friday, an achievement which left him “gobsmacked” in light of his struggles in Australia, the 40-year-old claimed his first sprint-race victory on Saturday with a minimum of fuss, profiting from what his race engineer Riccardo Adami described as a “masterclass in tyre management”.

Hamilton got away cleanly off the line, holding off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the run down to turn one at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Then, after Verstappen’s tyres fell off and the Dutch driver lost position to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with four of the 19 laps remaining, Hamilton was able to open up a sizeable gap to the Australian. He won by nearly seven seconds in the final reckoning.

Oscar Piastri's lap 15 overtake on Max Verstappen 🤩 pic.twitter.com/tCewWQoiOG
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) March 22, 2025

“Today I woke up feeling great,” Hamilton said after climbing out of his cockpit to be met by huge roars from the sizeable Ferrari fan club in Shanghai. “[Australia] was difficult and obviously I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the steep climb it is to get into a new team, to become acclimatised within the team — understanding and communication, all sorts of things. The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping along the way just clearly not understanding. Maybe because they never had the experience or [they’re] just unaware.

“And so it felt great to come here and feel more comfortable in the car because in Melbourne I really didn’t feel comfortable. From lap one here this weekend I was 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 fine-tune the car. And it felt great. Today I got a good start, and then it’s such – it’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.”

Asked to expand on proving his doubters wrong, Hamilton added: “Well, yeah, I mean, I’m not really talking back to them or anything like that. It’s just that we live in such a strange time in the world. People just love to be negative at any opportunity, even with the smallest things, they’ll just be negative about it. And I think that’s just the difficult time that we’re living in.

“I see certain individuals – and again, I don’t read the news, but I see bits here and there – see people that I’ve admired for years just talking out of turn.

“Clearly some of them really just making uneducated guesses of what’s going on. And like I was just saying, just a real lack of appreciation. It’s not easy moving to a new team that works completely differently. You don’t just jump in and it’s good. I mean, look at – it’s true – if you look at Seb [Vettel], you look at Fernando [Alonso], they did a great job when they joined [Ferrari] in their early phases. But to build long-term success with the team takes time. And that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m not trying to jump-start it, get ahead of myself. I’m just taking my time to build with this great team.”

Lewis Hamilton scoots in the paddock during the sprint/qualifying sessions ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 22, 2025 in Shanghai, China — Hamilton said he woke up ‘feeling great’ on Saturday – and duly delivered on the track - Getty Images /Kym Illman

Hamilton later qualified in fifth place for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, which will start at 7am UK time. He might have hoped for more given his strong form in sprint qualifying and the sprint race. But it was another session in which he outperformed his team-mate. The seven-time champion beat Charles Leclerc by 0.094secs.

He added: “I don’t feel the pressure. I know the Tifosi, I know the fans, I know the team wants to win and I know it means everything to them. But I said the other day, like, Rome wasn’t built in one day. One step at a time. We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves – we cannot. We’ve got to continue to push, we’ve got to be diligent and just remain focused, stay calm. Most importantly, stay calm, because these moments get us all excited. But we’ll be back at our desks after this and focused on qualifying this afternoon. And you know, it’s a long, long way. So it’s a marathon, not a sprint, right? So we just have to take our time.”

Hamilton’s sprint win moved him above Leclerc in the drivers’ standings, by a solitary point, heading into Sunday’s race. Leclerc took fifth in the sprint, just behind Russell, with Yuki Tsunoda an excellent sixth for Racing Bulls, fending off Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes for the entire race.

Asked whether he was confident Ferrari could now challenge for the championship, Hamilton said: “Well, look, we’ve just come from a race [in Australia] where we finished 10th. So there are so many factors to really take into account. I guess we just can’t get ahead of ourselves off that one result that we just had. From track to track, we’ll have to wait and see.”

04:11 AM GMT

Right, it is qualifying later today

Not too long away, actually. That begins at 7am GMT and we will be here from a little before 6am for the build-up to that. Given the tyre wear issues in the race, qualifying is going to be crucial.

04:03 AM GMT

Lando Norris on his ‘dreadful’ race

“I just had a bad first lap. I just had to run into the grass a bit and lost a couple of positions, then it was just difficult to do a lot. Yeah, quali didn’t help but I wasn’t very good today either. In the race I just felt dreadful.”

04:02 AM GMT

Ferrari’s Vasseur speaks to Sky Sports about the win

He is obviously pleased but sounded a note of caution, as he often does.

“I don’t want to be negative but it’s much easier when you’re in front to manage the tyres properly, and I think he did very well.”

03:56 AM GMT

Hamilton celebrates

03:54 AM GMT

Updated driver standings

03:45 AM GMT

Hamilton on his win

“Today, I woke up feeling great today. The first race was difficult. I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the steep climb it is to get into a new team. The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping on the way, maybe because they’ve never had the experience or unaware. It has felt great to come here and feel comfortable in the car. From lap one this weekend, really feeling on it. There’s so much grip on this new tarmac, it’s so hard to look after these tyres.”

03:44 AM GMT

Piastri reacts to a strong second

“It was a really productive sprint. I really learnt a lot in that one. As much as the result is nice, the way I got the result is an encouraging thing. We didn’t quite have enough pace for Lewis out front. We have got some good ideas for this afternoon and tomorrow. We’ve got good pace in the car but we’ve got good competition this weekend. The Ferraris look pretty rapid so we’ve got to be on our best form.”

03:42 AM GMT

Verstappen on this third place

“I tried to give it a go because I also had Oscar behind me pushing. Unfortunately, yeah, I think the last eight laps we just didn’t have the pace to the others. I was just trying to survive out there. I’ll definitely take the P3. We’ll try to do better. In general we just lack a bit of overall pace.”

03:39 AM GMT

Doohan spins at the hairpin

He bumps into one and nearly two of the Saubers there. Clumsy. Lawson with a fighting 14th. His best session in a Red Bull this season. Needs to find some qualifying pace, though. Hopefully that will encourage him for this afternoon.

03:37 AM GMT

Hamilton on the radio

“Great job guys. Yes. Good job mate, well done mate,” he says.

“It was masterclass for tyres management,” comes the response.

03:37 AM GMT

Chinese GP sprint - Classification

HAM 8pts
PIA 7pts
VER 6pts
RUS 5pts
LEC 4pts
TSU 3pts
ANT 2pts
NOR 1pt

03:36 AM GMT

LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE CHINESE GP SPRINT!

What a moment! It’s only a sprint but it’s still a race. Piastri second, Verstappen third and Russell fourth. Leclerc, in the other Ferrari, is fifth.

03:35 AM GMT

FINAL LAP

Hamilton leading by 6.4sec here. Leclerc says his car is undriveable in turn 13 but he is very, very close to Russell at the start of the lap. This battle has given Verstappen breathing room and he should be able to take third place. Norris very close to Antonelli for seventh as they enter the final sector.

Hamilton rounds the hairpin and the final corner...

03:33 AM GMT

Lap 18 of 19 - Hamilton cruising to victory

Replays show Norris coming from a long way back to get Stroll, and potentially a point, at the hairpin. Russell 1.3sec away from Verstappen for third. He might get a chance but he has Leclerc behind for company.

03:31 AM GMT

Lap 17 of 19 - Hamilton leads Piastri by 4.2sec

This bodes well for tomorrow’s race when it comes to tyre wear. Don’t think anyone will be that interested in the soft tyres.

03:30 AM GMT

Lap 16 of 19 - The front tyres on the frontrunners look shot

Norris is now within DRS range of Stroll for P8. Hamilton has extended his lead over Piastri who will probably just have to settle for second here. Two drivers who had poor results last Sunday will pick up a handful of points here.

03:29 AM GMT

Lap 15 of 19 - Piastri into second!

Piastri close at turn one again but doesn’t try a move this time. He has perhaps used that to position himself for the rest of the lap and then try at the end of the back straght, with DRS. But he has a small moment at turn 10 which drops him back again. Hamilton now leads by nearly 2.5sec and is surely heading to victory here...

Piastri gets DRS on the back straight. Moves up the inside and gets the move done against the ailing Red Bull!

LAP 15/19

Piastri pounces!

He's up to P2 👏#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/OripQCVw8Y
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 22, 2025

Can Piastri chase Hamilton? Only three laps to do it and 2.7sec to find. Unlikely...

03:27 AM GMT

Lap 14 of 19 - Hamilton leads Verstappen and Piastri

Piastri has a look on the outside of turn one at Verstappen but the Dutchman defends hard and fair in the middle of the track. This is helping Hamilton ahead. 1.8sec now he leads by.

“Both of my front tyres are dead,” Verstappen says. Piastri has tended to drop back in the first part of the lap. Sainz has not retired but switched to a new set of soft tyres and is now in last. Norris has gained on Stroll but only 1.4sec now.

Top eight:

03:27 AM GMT

Lap 14 of 19 - Hamilton leads Verstappen and Piastri

Piastri has a look on the outside of turn one at Verstappen but the Dutchman defends hard and fair in the middle of the track. This is helping Hamilton ahead. 1.8sec now he leads by.

Top eight:

03:25 AM GMT

Lap 13 of 19 - Piastri closer now

Lap times at the front, and everywhere really, have dropped off into the 1:37s now. Piastri closer than ever and may be able to try a move on Verstappen on the pit straight, where he tends to get a better exit.

Hamilton leads.

03:23 AM GMT

Lap 12 of 19 - Sainz not having a good race

He loses two places at the hairpin and is then told to pit and quite possibly retire from the sprint. A problem?

Hamilton leads Verstappen by 1.6sec but Piastri has fallen a little further back behind Verstappen. 0.8sec. Doesn’t seem to be able to get close enough to the Dutchman to have a look anywhere.

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 leads Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 at the start during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 22, 2025 in Shanghai, China

03:22 AM GMT

Lap 11 of 19 - Hamilton pulls away slightly

Verstappen going backwards, relatively. Piastri now within half a second. Norris in ninth showing no signs of progress and is now three seconds behind Stroll. 3.5sec indeed.

Piastri might get a look at Verstappen with DRS into the hairpin. Dunno, maybe not now.

03:20 AM GMT

Lap 10 of 19 - Top eight and gaps

HAM
VER +1.5
PIA +0.8
RUS +5.0
LEC +7.1
TSU +9.2
ANT +9.9
STR +11.2

Norris still in ninth. Lawson making progress here, slightly. He loses a bit of his front wing endplate after rubbing up against Bortoleto at the hairpin this time.

03:19 AM GMT

Lap 9 of 19 - Verstappen’s engineer on the radio

“You can play with lines but just don’t let that lead to a net increase in slip,” comes the radio message. Hamilton edges out a little this lap, which will be a relief. Piastri closer to Verstappen than Verstappen Hamilton by the end of the lap...

03:17 AM GMT

Lap 8 of 19 - Norris unhappy

He says his front left is borked and he’s unable to find any pace. Verstappen is closing in on leader Hamilton. Piastri has dropped back a bit from those two, though is 1.2sec behind Verstappen. Still in touch. He lost four tenths in the middle sector.

Verstappen is right on Hamilton’s rear wing now...

03:15 AM GMT

Lap 7 of 19 - Hamilton leads Verstappen by 1.4sec

Piastri is 0.7sec further back. No further action for Lawson and Doohan’s incident.

03:14 AM GMT

Lap 6 of 19 - Piastri nearly within DRS range of Verstappen now

Verstappen’s pace has dropped slightly, which means Hamilton leads him by 1.4sec nearly.

03:13 AM GMT

Lap 5 of 19 - Leclerc under pressure from Tsunoda

Antonelli is not too far behind him, either. Lawon gets Doohan at the hairpin and they touch on the exit. He came from a long way back there. Stewards looking at it. Piastri now the fastest man in the top three, but Russell has good pace too.

03:11 AM GMT

Lap 4 of 19 - Verstappen back within one second of Hamilton

Verstappen marginally the quicker man in the top three bit it is close, a tenth or so in it. Norris not really making any inroads into Stroll.

03:10 AM GMT

Lap 3 of 19 - Piastri has fallen back a bit

He is 1.8sec behind Verstappen now. Replays show Norris’s error was not so much a lock up as simply running wide onto the dirt when he did not need to. He was not fighting for position keenly and was in miles of space, really.

Here’s the top 10:

03:08 AM GMT

Lap 2 of 19 - Hamilton leads Verstappen by 0.7s

That is the gap at the start of the lap, anyway. He will want to be well out of DRS, now enabled, range soon. The top three have a bit of a gap to the rest of the field. Norris coming back on Stroll but has not been able to try a move yet but the back straight will be the place for that. Problem is he loses a bit of time on it.

Hamilton now 1.118sec clear of Verstappen at the end of the lap.

03:06 AM GMT

THE CHINESE GP SPRINT RACE IS GO!

It’s a very good start from Lewis Hamilton and he does not have to worry about Verstappen because he can pull in front of him directly before the braking zone.

⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️
⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️

LIGHTS OUT IN THE FIRST #F1SPRINT OF THE SEASON!!!

Hamilton leads into the first corner ahead of Verstappen #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/Zj3qoUZ1HC
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 22, 2025

It’s a bad start for Norris who locks up at turn two and then runs wide. Down to ninth already. That’s not good and reminiscent of his dodgy starts last season.

Hamilton leads Verstappen, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell and Tsunoda for the top six.

Work to do with Norris. Russell gets through ahead of Leclerc for fourth.

03:04 AM GMT

Here we go

Verstappen lines up pointing towards Hamilton, fairly aggressively...

03:00 AM GMT

Formation lap is go

Everyone away, Hamilton leading. Verstappen on the front row alongside him. I can’t wait for this one.

Lewis leads them away on the formation lap 👉#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/uP6An2ilVC
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 22, 2025

03:00 AM GMT

Chinese GP sprint: Starting grid

1. HAM 2. VER
3. PIA 4. LEC
5. RUS 6. NOR
7. ANT 8. TSU
9. ALB 10. STR
11. ALO 12. BEA
13. SAI 14. BOR
15. HAD 16. DOO
17. GAS 18. OCO
19. LAW

PIT LANE: HUL

02:55 AM GMT

Hamilton focusing in on the grid

Ferrari's British driver Lewis Hamilton (C) arrives ahead of the sprint race at the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai on March 22, 2025.

A victory today would mean a lot. It would only be eight points but would be a significant boost early in the season. It is far from a certainty, though. 19 laps on this track is not easy, especially with Verstappen and the McLarens close behind. Well, one McLaren close behind anyway.

02:50 AM GMT

Christian Horner speaks to Sky Sports

“It’s a little bit of a voyage of discovery. Pirelli have increased the minimum pressures... how that will affect the cars will be interesting. I think it’s going to be quite a bit of management... it’s all about the front left here. It’s going to be an interesting stint.”

02:48 AM GMT

Norris accuses Russell of ‘playing mind games’

Lando Norris has accused British rival George Russell of “trying to play mind games” with him by relentlessly talking up McLaren’s car. But he says he will “not fall for them”, adding that if anything it shows he is inside the Mercedes driver’s head rather than the other way around.
Norris, 25, held off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last weekend after he and team-mate Oscar Piastri took a one-two in qualifying, more than 0.3 seconds clear of the field.

Read more from Tom Cary here.

02:37 AM GMT

How the teams stack up in qualifying after two sessions

02:33 AM GMT

A good visualisation of how close it was yesterday...

That was CLOSE! 👀

Let's compare the Sprint qualifying laps of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in Shanghai... but from above 👇#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/PNTqK5K1Y9
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 21, 2025

02:31 AM GMT

Qualifying head to heads

We’ve had two qualifying sessions now so this is how it stacks up.

02:06 PM GMT

Final times after sprint qualifying

Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Ferrari HP 1min 30.849secs
Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:30.867
Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:30.929
Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari HP 1:31.057
George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:31.169
Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:31.393
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Ita) Mercedes GP 1:31.738
Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) RB 1:31.773
Alexander Albon (Tha) Atlassian Williams 1:31.852
Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:31.982
Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:31.815
Oliver Bearman (Gbr) Haas F1 1:31.978
Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Atlassian Williams 1:32.325
Gabriel Bortoleto (Bra) Kick Sauber 1:32.564
Isack Hadjar (Fra) RB 1:32.171
Jack Doohan (Aus) Alpine 1:32.575
Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:32.640
Esteban Ocon (Fra) Haas F1 1:32.651
Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Kick Sauber 1:32.675
Liam Lawson (Nzl) Red Bull 1:32.729,

02:02 PM GMT

Good morning

Welcome to our live coverage for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, from the Shanghai International Circuit. I say good morning but from where I am sitting in London it is very much the middle of the night. Still, if you cannot get yourself out of bed for Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari being on pole for the sprint race, then what can you get yourself out of bed for?

After a “disaster” weekend in Melbourne, Hamilton took a surprise pole position for today’s sprint. It was a surprise to him, too. He described himself as “shocked” and “gobsmacked”. Everybody expected the McLarens to be the class of the field again but that was not the case. It was Max Verstappen, in fact, that was Hamilton’s closest rival in yesterday’s session and the two will start on the front row together for the first time in quite a while.

File photo dated 28-02-2025 of a "gobsmacked" Lewis Hamilton who said he was in shock after he landed his first pole position in Ferrari colours for Saturday's sprint race in China

The lead McLaren of Oscar Piastri was third and well within a tenth of a second of Hamilton, but could not quite cross the line fastest. The Australian thought McLaren’s run plan in SQ3 (doing a push lap, a cool down lap and then another push lap) was perhaps the difference as other teams chose to do just one push lap.

Lando Norris, last week’s pole sitter and race winner, made mistakes in both of his SQ3 runs and finished half a second down from Hamilton and will start in sixth. George Russell was fifth for Mercedes, 0.32sec off pole with team-mate Kimi Antonelli in seventh. Yuki Tsunoda was eighth for Racing Bulls, Alexander Albon eighth for Williams and Lance Stroll 10th for Aston Martin. The other Red Bull of Liam Lawson endured another tough session and qualified 20th and last.

On Hamilton’s side, whatever happens in today’s race, this added some much-needed cheer. Nobody expected their woeful lack of pace in Australia to be repeated this weekend but that it happened at all would have been a worry. That is not to say they will win today’s race – I expect McLaren to come back strongly – or even qualify well for the main event later on. But the pace is in there, clearly.

Championship points are awarded for the first eight finishers today, with eight points for the winner and one for the eight-placed person. The race gets under way at 3am GMT and we will be here for all the action and reaction.

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