Hamilton wins “masterclass of tyre management” in sprint race · RaceFans

Lewis Hamilton scored his first victory as a Ferrari driver in the sprint race at Shanghai.

He was never headed over the 19-lap encounter after leading Max Verstappen away from the grid.

Verstappen held second place for much of the race until Oscar Piastri passed him with four laps to go. As the drivers nursed their medium compound tyres to the finish, Verstappen clearly thought better of trying too hard to defend his position, and Piastri gained the place with little difficulty in the extended DRS zone.

Despite falling to third, Verstappen closed on championship leader Lando Norris, who had a poor race from sixth on the grid. He ran wide on the first lap and fell to ninth, and only recovered one position for a solitary point at the flag.

Hamilton made good his escape while Verstappen and Leclerc swapped positions, moving over six seconds up the road. He duly claimed his first victory in a sprint race, and his first win in any race since joining Ferrari.

His race engineer Riccardo Adami congratulated him after he took the chequered flag, calling his victory a “masterclass of tyre management.”

The drivers who successfully managed their tyres until the end made gains in the final laps, but there were few changes of position among the points scorers.

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George Russell fell over four seconds off Verstappen at one stage, then reeled him in over the final laps. However he was too preoccupied with keeping Leclerc at swords’ length to do anything about the Ferrari.

Yuki Tsunoda came in sixth, holding off Andrea Kimi Antonelli, while Norris picked off Lance Stroll for the final point.

Jack Doohan lunged at Gabriel Bortoleto on the final lap, knocking the Sauber driver into a spin. The stewards will investigate the incident.

From last on the grid, besides Nico Hulkenberg’s pit lane-starting Sauber, Liam Lawson climbed to 14th at the finish. The stewards took no action over brief contact between him and Doohan.