Lewis Hamilton turns on 'yapping' critics after striking first Ferrari win

Lewis Hamilton rounded on his 'yapping critics' after scoring his maiden victory with Ferrari. From pole position, Hamilton controlled the sprint in China to win by a comfortable seven seconds over Oscar Piastri in his McLaren, after holding off an initial challenge from second-on-the-grid Max Verstappen, who finished third. It was a bounce-back performance from Hamilton, who endured a difficult debut weekend with the Scuderia in Australia a few days ago, notably criticism of his radio communication with new race engineer Riccardo Adami. But under sunny Shanghai skies, after finishing quickest in the sprint shootout on Friday, Hamilton delivered a drive of old to control the 19-lap sprint from start to finish. Hailing his triumph, and rounding on his naysayers immediately after, Hamilton said: "The first race was difficult, and I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the steep climb it is to get into a new team, to acclimatise within the team, understanding, communication, all sorts of things. "The amount of critics and people I've heard yapping along the way just clearly not understanding maybe because they've never had the experience, just unaware. "So it felt great to come here and feel more comfortable in the car because in Melbourne I really didn't feel comfortable. From lap one [in China], I really felt on it, and the engineers and mechanics have done a great job to fine-tune the car, and it felt great. "I got a good start and there's so much grip on this new Tarmac. It's really hard to look after these new tyres, but I think everyone was struggling the same." Hamilton insisted he was not feeling any pressure despite the expectations place upon him following his high-profile switch from Mercedes to Ferrari. Not for the first time, he has called for patience. "I know the Tifosi, the fans, the team want to win, and it means everything to them," said Hamilton. "But I said the other day, Rome wasn't built in one day, one step at a time and we're not going to get ahead of ourselves. "We're going to continue to push, be diligent, remain focused, stay calm - most importantly stay calm - because these moments get everyone excited. "But we'll be back at our desks after this, focused on qualifying. It's a long, long way. It's a marathon, not a sprint so we've just got to take our time."