CHINESE GP – Max Verstappen wins sprint race ahead of Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen won the sprint race beating Lewis Hamilton to take his first win in the sprint format this season by thirteen seconds at the Chinese Grand Prix. The Dutchman made a brilliant start from fourth to take the lead midway through the sprint.
The victory extends Verstappen’s world championship lead to fifteen points over Perez as the Dutchman seeks a fourth consecutive drivers’ title. Red Bull’s advantage over Ferrari at the top of the constructors’ standings grows to 26 points.
While Verstappen’s searing pace establishes him as the clear favourite for Sunday’s full-distance race, the fact that teams are able to change their car set-ups under 2024’s new Sprint format left room for the likes of Perez and the Ferraris to reduce their pace deficit ahead of qualifying.
Hamilton started the sprint from second and took the lead at the first corner from Lando Norris after the pole sitter slid off into the opening sequence of corners. The Mercedes driver drew level into the first corner before hanging on to take the lead on the inside of Turn Three.
The pre-race consensus was that only Norris’ McLaren might have the pace to put up serious resistance, but the Brit’s hopes of a maiden F1 victory were over almost immediately.
Norris attempted to hang his car around the outside as the circuit coiled into the long right-hander at the start of the lap, but Hamilton kept his car in the middle of the road at the switching point to the left-handed Turn 3. This left Norris out of road, where he ultimately dropped to seventh.
That allowed Hamilton to pull away early on from Fernando Alonso who took second from Norris, but the lighting-quick Verstappen was soon on the tail of the Aston Martin. The Red Bull driver then took advantage of a minor error by Hamilton at the hairpin (Turn Fourteen) aided by DRS he passed the Mercedes and built a thirteen-second lead.
Hamilton settled into second, which left Alonso fighting for third with Sergio Perez, that fight didn’t last long after Alonso’s contact with his fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz. The Aston Martin driver given a ten-second penalty, for the collision had no impact.
Alonso’s tyres began to fade into the closing laps, and Sainz attacked, attempting to go around the Aston Martin through the fast Turns Seven and Eight with three laps to go.
As the two Spaniards fought wheel to wheel, the cars appeared to touch, which may have been where Alonso sustained the damage that forced his retirement and Perez managed to sneak ahead of both to take third place.
After summoning both drivers, the stewards found Alonso guilty of causing the collision and gave him a ten-second penalty, along with three penalty points on his licence.
Norris finished the sprint comfortably ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri by nearly two seconds, while George Russell’s soft gamble saw him come from eleventh to eighth and take the final point. Guanyu Zhou was ninth the Shanghai-Sheffielder missing out on the points by six seconds, while Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten.