Hamilton takes first Ferrari win in China sprint

Lewis Hamilton took his first win for Ferrari on only his second outing for the team with a dominant victory in the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The seven-time champion fended off a challenge from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the run to the first corner and controlled the race from there.

Verstappen fell back from the Ferrari after a few laps into the clutches of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who passed the world champion with five laps to go.

McLaren’s Lando Norris managed to salvage a point after a difficult race by passing Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin with two laps to go.

Hamilton’s victory was a resounding recovery after a disappointing Ferrari debut at the opening race of the season in Australia last weekend, in which he qualified eighth and finished ninth.

He was praised on the slowing-down lap after his victory by his engineer Riccardo Adami for a “masterclass in tyre management” on a day when everyone else struggled to make their rubber last.

Norris, winner in Melbourne, dropped back from sixth on the grid to ninth on the first lap with an error at Turn Six.

Norris spent most of the race complaining he had no grip from his front tyres and could not go any faster, but pounced as Stroll himself ran into trouble in the closing stages.

Behind Verstappen, Mercedes’ George Russell passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for fourth place with a dive down the inside of the hairpin at the end of the long back straight on the first lap.

Leclerc came back at Russell in the closing stages but the Briton was able to hold him off.

Yuki Tsunoda took an excellent sixth for Racing Bulls, fending off Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes for the entire race.