Hamilton breaks Ferrari duck after keeping bitter rival Verstappen at bay

Lewis Hamilton scored his first victory with new team Ferrari after keeping bitter rival Max Verstappen at bay for the majority of the sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Remarkably, it was also Ferrari's first sprint triumph, and ultimately a comfortable one as Hamilton took the chequered flag by almost seven seconds from McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

After Hamilton had held off all that Verstappen could muster for the opening two-thirds of the 19-lap race, Piastri made his way past Verstappen on lap 15 to secure second place.

It is remarkable what a difference a week makes as Hamilton struggled throughout across the Australian Grand Prix weekend, but so far, in China, Hamilton has showed he is far from finished with F1 following a revitalising move to Ferrari.

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Hamilton survives tyre graining phase

Mercedes' George Russell managed to hold onto fourth, despite complaining of a car that was struggling to learn, finishing six-tenths clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who was 19 seconds behind team-mate Hamilton.

Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda was a fine sixth ahead of Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes, whilst Lando Norris was a disappointing eighth in his McLaren, and the last of the points scorers.

Norris goes into the grand prix on Sunday with a two-point lead over Verstappen, with Russell third, a further four points back. Hamilton has moved up to seventh, 17 adrift of Norris.

From his first sprint pole since Silverstone 2021, and with the pressure of old rival Verstappen alongside him, Hamilton delivered a superb getaway to maintain his advantage through the awkward 360-degree sweep of the opening turns.

The seven-time F1 champion, from the left-hand side of the grid, was able to move his away across the line of Verstappen to cut off any possible attack and stay in front. 

Further down the pack, from sixth on the grid, Norris made a mistake early on the lap, getting his tyres on the dirt of Turn 6, losing three places to fall behind Tsunoda, Antonelli, and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.

With the DRS available after the first lap, it was crucial for Hamilton to open up a second gap to prevent Verstappen from making a move on the Briton at the end of the long back straight into the Turn 14 hairpin.

Hamilton managed to do so early on, only to fall back into the clutches of Verstappen after eight laps, additionally drawing third-on-the-road Piastri into the fight.

By lap nine, it was clear the front-left tyre on Hamilton's Ferrari was heavily graining, allowing Verstappen to pull within attacking range. Two laps later, though, Hamilton appeared to have emerged through the graining phase as he pulled clear of Verstappen again by over a second.

Instead, at the end of lap 13 and the start of 14, Verstappen came under heavy pressure from Piastri. The Dutchman then radioed in that both of his front tyres were "dead".

It was no surprise that on the back straight on lap 15, Piastri made his move into the hairpin to claim second place.

Any thought of attacking Hamilton for the lead, however, soon disappeared as the former pulled clear to take the victory by an easy margin ahead of Piastri.

As for Norris, stuck in ninth position following his early error and strangely unable to pass Stroll, the championship leader going into this race radioed over midway through that his front-left tyre had gone and he was feeling heavily compromised.

A few laps later, when his race engineer asked if there was any way the team could help, with the grand prix to come on Sunday, Norris worryingly replied that he was going "flat out".

The only saving grace for Norris is that late on he finally managed to get past Stroll to claim what could be a vital point by the end of the season.

Verstappen's rookie Red Bull team-mate Liam Lawson, who had started from the back of the grid - 19th after qualifying 20th due to Stake's Nico Hulkenberg starting from the pit lane - managed to survive a stewards' review after causing a collision with Alpine's Jack Doohan early on. The New Zealander went on to finish 15th.

Carlos Sainz, who had been struggling with his Williams two-thirds of the way through the race, pitted for fresh tyres, dropping to the back of the pack. On fresh rubber, he showed what was possible as he was two seconds per lap quicker than the leaders.

Although finishing last, it was valuable information gained by the Spanish driver and Williams as he clawed his way up to 17th by the finish, with Doohan bringing up the rear, a minute behind Hamilton