At the Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton won the first Sprint of the 2025 season. The Ferrari driver put up a confident effort to increase his Shanghai win total and earn his maiden P1 for the Scuderia.
Following a great start when the lights went out, Hamilton went on to establish a dominating lead. Although the 19-lap race wasn't completely uneventful, with his SF-25 at one point experiencing tyre graining, the seven-time World Champion looked in incredible form.
Mercedes' George Russell maintained fourth place despite a late-race struggle with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who had to settle for fifth place, while Max Verstappen spent the majority of the Sprint running in second place but fell to McLaren's Oscar Piastri with a few laps remaining, placing the Red Bull in third.
Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda finished in sixth place, and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli added two more points in seventh place to match the points he had earned in Melbourne. While the McLaren ran out of points for a while before regaining the position in the closing stages, Lando Norris finished the race in eighth place after a wide moment early on cost him positions.
Sprint Qualifying determined the grid for the season's first 100-kilometer dash after just one practice session on Friday. The format gives points to the top eight finishers, with P1 receiving up to eight points and P8 receiving just one.
Piastri and Norris finished the session in P3 and P6, respectively, despite McLaren's strong performance throughout the session. The reigning Teams' Champions' strategy of two push laps in SQ3 did not quite work out.
Verstappen, who won the Shanghai Sprint in 2024, was just 0.018 seconds behind Hamilton in second place as Hamilton blasted to an unexpected pole in the Ferrari.
Nico Hulkenberg would start from the pit lane after his Kick Sauber was adjusted under parc ferme rules, according to one alteration verified to the grid ahead of the Sprint. It was discovered that all 20 cars had bolted on used medium tires when the tyre coverings were removed before the formation lap.
While Piastri tried to push Verstappen and Norris ran alongside Russell, Hamilton maintained a commanding lead into the opening corner as the lights went out for the 19-lap race. The title leader did not benefit from this, though, as a lock-up dropped Norris to P9.
By Lap 2, both Russell and Tsunoda had improved; Tsunoda had gained two positions from his P8 grid position to be running in P6 for Racing Bulls, while Mercedes had taken P4 from Leclerc. At the front, Hamilton appeared at ease as he extended his lead over Verstappen by 1.1 seconds.
Replays showed Red Bull teammate Liam Lawson and Alpine's Jack Doohan dueling for P18 as Verstappen attempted to narrow the distance to his former title rival. The New Zealander was obviously in a fighting mood after Friday's poor Sprint Qualifying.
Hamilton was still more than a second ahead of Verstappen on Lap 6, but the Dutchman had Piastri in the McLaren, closing the distance to about 0.7 seconds. Russell, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Antonelli, and Lance Stroll were the other drivers vying for points behind them.
Among those positions was Norris, the McLaren driver who was having trouble closing in on the Aston Martin of Stroll due to tyre problems. Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion, too had tyre issues; he had graining on his front left tyre, which let Verstappen get closer to the Ferrari.
Hamilton extended the lead once more as Lap 11 drew near, and Verstappen was now under pressure from Piastri, the Australian who was just over half a second behind him.
There was a lot of movement on the pitch elsewhere, with Lawson taking Carlos Sainz out before the Williams stopped into the pits to get a new set of medium tires and dropped him off at the back.
Leclerc and Russell were fighting for P4 as the action heated up behind the front three. Verstappen had to settle for third place, while Hamilton claimed the chequered flag by a massive 6.889 seconds clear of Piastri, thus the other red car had no such issues.
Tsunoda earned some crucial points in sixth place for Racing Bulls after the team lost in Melbourne last weekend, and Russell ultimately prevailed in the last battle with Leclerc, holding off the Ferrari by just over half a second.
The final point available was subsequently taken by Norris in eighth place, while Antonelli crossed the finish line in seventh. Fernando Alonso, Stroll's teammate from Aston Martin, and Alex Albon, who slid from his P9 starting position, missed out in ninth and tenth place, respectively, as did Pierre Gasly of Alpine in eleventh.
From P13 to P16, respectively, came Isack Hadjar of the Racing Bulls, Lawson, and the Haas duo of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon, while Sainz finished in P17. After contacting Doohan at the end of the race, Gabriel Bortoleto of Kick Sauber finished P18, Hulkenberg finished P19, and Doohan earned P20.
