F1 News: Verstappen schools Hamilton to win Chinese GP Sprint

Lewis Hamilton led the first 8 of 19 laps in the Chinese GP Sprint race, but Max Verstappen took him to school on lap 9 and led the rest of the way for his 8th Sprint Race victory in Shanghai.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Verstappen was 4th on the starting grid in his Red Bull Honda, took 3rd in Turn 1 when polesitter Lando Norris blew it in Turn 2, then went after the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen took 2nd from Alonso on lap 7 and then set after race leader Hamilton.

Then on lap 8 Hamilton wilted under the pressure from Verstappen and ran wide in Turn 1 and Verstappen closed to1/2-second. By the end of lap 9, Verstappen was past Hamilton under breaking at the end of the long back straight and from there the Dutchman stretched his lead over Hamilton to over 13-seconds at the finish in just 9 racing laps.

“The first few laps were hectic,” said Verstappen! “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.”

“That’s the best result I’ve had in a long time, so I’m super happy and grateful,” said Hamilton.

“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.”

Sergio Perez won a great battle with the two Ferraris and the Aston Martin of Alonso to take third position.

“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,” said a happy Perez.”

Charles Leclerc out dueled his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., the two rounding out the top-5.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were 6th and 7th ahead of George Russell.

Zhou Guanyu was 9th in front of his home crowd and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top-10.

Verstappen added 8 valuable points to his 2024 total and now leads his Red Bull teammate Perez by 15 markers – 85 to 10.

Qualifying for the big race on Sunday is up next in 3 hours time.

Note: Fernando Alonso was given a 10-second time penalty for the F1 Sprint, despite his DNF, as well as three penalty points for causing a collision with Carlos Sainz Jr.

2024 Chinese GP Sprint Race Results