Lewis Hamilton said it was “really special” to register his first victory for Ferrari after winning the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday in dominant fashion.
Hamilton had trailed home 10th in Melbourne on his Ferrari debut, but it was a different story six days later in Shanghai.
The seven-time world champion powered to the win from pole position to add a sprint victory to his six grands prix triumphs at the circuit.
“China and Shanghai has always been really good to me since my first race here back in 2007. It’s a track that I really do love driving on.
“It’s hard to put into words what it feels like. Obviously it’s a sprint race, it’s not the main race, but it’s a good stepping stone.”
“Today I woke up feeling great … I feel a lot of people underestimated the steep climb it is to get into a new team,” he said.
“To become acclimatised within the team, understanding, communication, all sorts of things.
“The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping along the way, maybe not understanding because they never had the experience or they’re unaware.
“But it felt great to come here and feel comfortable in the car. In Melbourne I didn’t feel comfortable. From lap one here this weekend, I’ve felt on it. The engineers, mechanics have done a great job fine-tuning the car.”
Ferrari’s British driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates winning the sprint race of the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s British driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates winning the sprint race of the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.
Source: AFP
Hamilton used his vast experience to take advantage of the clean air at the front of the pack and nurse his tyres over 19 laps on the newly resurfaced 5.451km Shanghai International circuit.
“I think it is generally pretty close between all of us,” said Hamilton, now in the red of Ferrari after his move from Mercedes.
“But the tyre degradation today was pretty huge I think for everybody.
“I was just trying to manage that early on and then the last, like, five laps or something, I was in a really comfortable position.”
Piastri agreed that tyres were the biggest issue.
“Probably one of the more difficult ones in terms of tyre degradation,” said the Australian.
“So I knew I had to try and be patient.”
Verstappen pressured Hamilton in the first half of the race but suffered later on cooked rubber enabling Piastri to swoop past with four laps to go.
“Unfortunately the last eight laps we didn’t have the pace of the others so I was trying to survive out there,” said Verstappen, who won both the sprint and main race in China last year.
“I definitely take P3. It was tough to manage the tyres, but it’s OK, we will try to do better,” added the world champion, who is chasing a fifth consecutive drivers’ crown.
Sprint winner Lewis Hamilton and second-placed Aussie Oscar Piastri after the race.
Source: Getty Images
Hamilton’s former teammate at Mercedes, George Russell, was fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth in the other Ferrari.
Yuki Tsunoda in an RB was sixth, Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes was seventh and championship leader Lando Norris, who struggled for pace, took a solitary point in eighth for McLaren.
Norris started sixth but was caught up in traffic on turn five and dropped to ninth, outside the points, as he was passed by Antonelli, Tsunoda and Lance Stroll.
Norris did manage to squeeze back past the Aston Martin of Stroll late on and still leads the early championship on 26 points, from Verstappen on 24.
