Verstappen Smashes the Field in Eventful Chinese Sprint
Whilst it might have taken a few laps to get by, as soon as he did, there was no stopping Max Verstappen who won the first Sprint of the year by a rather ridiculous 13 seconds! Lewis Hamilton showed his class around China once again to take second place whilst a smart and calculated drive saw Sergio Perez round out the Sprint Podium.
Over the Limit?
Lewis Hamilton got a great launch off the line to get ahead of Lando Norris into Turn 1 before Lando made a silly mistake which dropped him all the way back to P7. Carlos Sainz was then trying to overtake Max Verstappen at the end of Lap 1 before it all started to calm down a bit. Max, who was seemingly struggling to begin with, found his mojo and dispatched Fernando Alonso before a mistake by Lewis Hamilton into the hairpin allowed Verstappen to put the pressure on before the Triple World Champion passed the 7-time World Champion on the following lap. This Sprint then became all about the fight for the final “step” on the Podium as Fernando Alonso was doing well to keep Carlos Sainz at bay. However, Sainz then got a run on Alonso into Turn 7 before the two Spaniards touched! Things then got even crazier as Fernando sent one on Carlos into the next corner which allowed Sergio Perez to sweep up into P3 before Sainz sent one on Alonso himself at Turn 11. All of this ultimately led to Alonso picking up a puncture which took him out of the points completely before, at the Turn 14 hairpin on the same lap, Carlos Sainz ran Charles Leclerc off the road in a moment that wouldn’t have pleased people connected to/with Ferrari. Personally, I think Fernando went over the limit here, and Carlos certainly did!
The Highs and Lows of the Sprint
I’ve only given out one 10 for today’s Sprint and that is obviously for Max Verstappen. Max is just way too fast at the moment, he’s definitely going on another one of his long winning streaks! I also thought Lewis Hamilton got the maximum out of his car to finish P2 (the only reason I didn’t give Lewis a 10 is because of the mistake he made), Zhou Guanyu did a great job to finish 9th for Kick Sauber, whilst Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen should also be happy with their morning’s work.
In terms of the lowest possible grade, I’ve only given out one 1 and that is for Nico Hulkenberg. I honestly don’t understand what happened to Nico Hulkenberg, as he had no pace whatsoever and ultimately finished last on the road! I also thought Lance Stroll had a pretty poor day as did Logan Sargeant who just didn’t really have the pace whilst Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon will be hoping that their weekends improve.
Overall Sprint Race Results and My Ratings
Max Verstappen: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 9
Sergio Perez: 8
Charles Leclerc: 7
Carlos Sainz: 5
Lando Norris: 5
Oscar Piastri: 4
George Russell: 5
Zhou Guanyu: 9
Kevin Magnussen: 8
Daniel Ricciardo: 7
Valtteri Bottas: 6
Esteban Ocon: 6
Lance Stroll: 2
Pierre Gasly: 4
Yuki Tsunoda: 3
Alex Albon: 3
Logan Sargeant: 2
Nico Hulkenberg: 1
Fernando Alonso: 4 (DNF)
My Predictions for Shanghai Qualifying
Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez
Lando Norris
Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
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