Hamilton Dominates to Take First Win in Red
A supreme Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish to take his first victory for Ferrari in the Chinese Sprint! Oscar Piastri managed to get back to second for McLaren whilst Max Verstappen rounded out the Sprint Podium!
A Commanding Drive
Lewis Hamilton got off the line really well to keep Max Verstappen out of reach in Turn 1 whilst a mistake from Lando Norris at Turn 6 resulted in the Championship Leader dropping 3 places and out of the points completely! George Russell managed to pull off a great move to take P4 from Charles Leclerc, but after that, not much happened at the front! Max Verstappen was able to get within DRS range of Lewis at certain points, but Hamilton’s pace and tyre management was just too strong as he started to pull away! Oscar Piastri was eventually able to pass Max for second, and pretty much all of the action came towards the back of the field as it felt like Liam Lawson was sending moves into the Turn 14 hairpin on most occasions! The only other thing to note was Lando was eventually able to clear Lance Stroll for P8, meaning Norris scored at least one point, and it should also be mentioned that Jack Doohan drove into Gabriel Bortoleto on the final lap!
The Highs and Lows of the Sprint
I’ve given out two 10’s for today’s Sprint and the first one is obviously for Lewis Hamilton! Lewis absolutely smashed it today, his pace was supreme, his tyre management was better than anyone else in the field, and this very much felt like the Hamilton of old! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Yuki Tsunoda, and wow, P6 for Racing Bulls in a Sprint is something Yuki should be very proud of! Oscar Piastri also deserves a mention because he did well to take second place whilst Max Verstappen, George Russell, and Lance Stroll all maximised their performance!
In terms of the lowest possible grade, I’ve only given out one 1, and that is unfortunately for Jack Doohan! Jack was struggling for pace throughout, he was lounging at the back, and the incident at the end with Gabriel Bortoleto was completely on him, and it was honestly quite stupid because there was no need for Doohan to make that move! Carlos Sainz also had a poor outing which resulted in him making a pit stop (which is a weird one) whilst Nico Hulkenberg still managed to finish behind his Rookie teammate despite the incident with Doohan!
Overall Sprint Race Results and My Ratings
Lewis Hamilton: 10
Oscar Piastri: 9
Max Verstappen: 8
George Russell: 8
Charles Leclerc: 7
Yuki Tsunoda: 10
Andrea Kimi Antonelli: 6
Lando Norris: 5
Lance Stroll: 8
Fernando Alonso: 6
Alex Albon: 6
Pierre Gasly: 6
Isack Hadjar: 5
Liam Lawson: 4
Oliver Bearman: 5
Esteban Ocon: 4
Carlos Sainz: 2
Gabriel Bortoleto: 3
Nico Hulkenberg: 2
Jack Doohan: 1
My Predictions for Shanghai Qualifying
Oscar Piastri
Lando Norris
Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen
George Russell
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