Shanghai At the Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton won the first Sprint of the 2025 season. The Ferrari driver put up a confident effort to increase his Shanghai win total and earn his maiden P1 for the Scuderia.

Following a great start when the lights went down, Hamilton went on to establish a dominating lead. Although the 19-lap race wasn’t completely uneventful, with his SF-25 at one point having tire graining, the seven-time World Champion looked in incredible form.

Mercedes’ George Russell maintained fourth place despite a late-race struggle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had to settle for fifth place, while Max Verstappen spent the most of the Sprint racing in second place but fell to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with a few circuits remaining, placing the Red Bull in third.

Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda finished in sixth place, while Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli added two more points in seventh place to match the points he had earned in Melbourne. While the McLaren ran out of points for a while before regaining the position in the final stages, Lando Norris finished the race in eighth place after a wide moment early on lost him positions.

Sprint Qualifying determined the grid for the season’s first 100-kilometer sprint after only one practice session on Friday. The system gives points to the top eight finishers, with P1 receiving up to eight points and P8 receiving just one.

Piastri and Norris finished the session in P3 and P6, respectively, despite McLaren’s excellent performance throughout the session. The reigning Teams’ Champions’ plan of two push laps in SQ3 did not quite work out.

Verstappen, who won the Shanghai Sprint in 2024, was only 0.018 seconds behind Hamilton in second position as Hamilton blasted to an unexpected pole in the Ferrari.

Nico Hulkenberg will start from the pit lane after his Kick Sauber was adjusted under parc ferme rules, according to one alteration verified to the grid prior of the Sprint. It was discovered that all 20 cars had bolted on used medium tires when the tyre coverings were removed before the formation lap.

While Piastri tried to push Verstappen and Norris ran alongside Russell, Hamilton maintained a commanding lead into the first curve as the lights went down for the 19-lap race. The title leader did not benefit from this, however, as a lock-up dropped Norris to P9.

By Lap 2, both Russell and Tsunoda had improved; Tsunoda had gained two positions from his P8 grid position to be racing in P6 for Racing Bulls, while Mercedes had claimed P4 from Leclerc. At the front, Hamilton seemed at ease as he extended his lead over Verstappen by 1.1 seconds.

Replays showed Red Bull teammate Liam Lawson and Alpine’s Jack Doohan dueling for P18 as Verstappen attempted to narrow the distance to his former championship rival. The New Zealander was obviously in fighting mood after Friday’s poor Sprint Qualifying.

Among those spots was Norris, the McLaren driver who was having trouble closing in on the Aston Martin in Stroll because to tire problems. Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion, too had tire issues; he had graining on his front left tire, which let Verstappen get closer to the Ferrari.