F1 Chinese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton takes his first Ferrari win in the F1 Sprint

Lewis Hamilton’s first race weekend as a Ferrari driver ended on a down note, as he finished tenth in the Australian Grand Prix.

His second is off to a much better start, as he starts in pole position at the F1 Sprint Race at the Shanghai Grand Prix.

Hamilton admitted to being “gobsmacked” at securing P1 on Friday, as he nipped Max Verstappen to pole position along with his teammate Charles Leclerc, and a pair of very “fast” McLarens. But now Hamilton has picked up his first trophy as a Ferrari driver — a special Pirelli sprint trophy that will mark the tire supplier’s 500th Grand Prix which comes later in the season — and is in line for his second.

However, he’ll need to hold off not just Verstappen, but a host of drivers over a 19-lap dash to the checkered flag to do so.

Here is how the grid will line up for the F1 Sprint race:

We’ll be covering the first F1 Sprint race of the 2025 Formula 1 season for you live here at SB Nation, so check back when lights go out at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday night for full coverage.

All updates are in Eastern time or by lap number.

Chinese Grand Prix F1 Sprint

11:45: The crowd roars to life as Hamilton steps up to talk with Villeneuve.

“We know we have this amazing crowd,” begins the seven-time champion. “The first race was difficult … I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the steep climb it is to get into a new team. To become acclimatized within a team, understanding, and communication, and all sorts of things. The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping all the way just clearly not understanding maybe because they’ve never had the experience or just not aware. So it felt great to come here and feel more comfortable in the car.

“From Lap 1 here this weekend, really feeling on it. We’ve done a great job, engineers have done a great job, mechanics have done a great job to really fine-tune the car, and it felt great today.”

Asked about the pressure of driving for Ferrari, Hamilton demurred.

“I don’t feel the pressure,” stated Hamilton. “I said the other day, Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

11:44: “It was a really productive Sprint,” said Piastri. “We didn’t have quite enough pace for Lewis up front, but we’ve got some good ideas for this afternoon and tomorrow.”

11:41: “Of course I tried to give it a go because I also had Piastri behind me,” said Verstappen to Jacques Villeneuve. “The last eight laps we didn’t have the pace of the others. I was just trying to survive out there.

“It was tough out there to manage the tires, but it’s okay. We’ll try to do better.”

11:36: Here are your provisional points scorers at the F1 Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix:

P1: Hamilton
P2: Piastri
P3: Verstappen
P4: Russell
P5: Leclerc
P6: Tsunoda
P7: Antonelli
P8: Norris

Lap 19: It is official. Lewis Hamilton has his first win in red. He has taken the F1 Sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Lap 19: The final lap is underway.

Leclerc radios in that the car is “undriveable,” and that he cannot turn the car at all. It does not look like it on the track, however, as he is all over Russell for P4.

Lap 18: Norris finally gets into the points again, completing the overtake of Stroll at the hairpin.

Leclerc is all over the rear wing of Russell.

Lap 17: Three laps to go and Hamilton is chasing down his first win in a Ferrari, as he is now almost four seconds ahead of Piastri.

Interestingly enough Leclerc has pulled within DRS of Russell for P4. And the battle for P6 remains engaged, as Tsunoda is still holding off Antonelli. Norris remains within DRS range of Stroll for P8, but a bit of a DRS train is forming that might work against the McLaren driver.

Lap 16: Piastri finally sticks the overtake on Verstappen at the end of Lap 15, and is now looking to chase down Hamilton with a few laps remaining.

Lap 15: Piastri is still within DRS range of Verstappen for P2.

Interestingly enough just when it seemed like Norris was out of the fight for points, he has closed to within DRS range of Lance Stroll for P8.

Lap 14: Hamilton maintains his lead, but the fight behind them is heating up. Piastri tries to shape a move around Piastri at the start of the lap, but Verstappen holds on. But there is concern at Red Bull, as Verstappen radios in that his tires are “dead.”

Lap 12: Carlos Sainz Jr. has been called into the pits as his Williams FW47 slides back on the grid. No word on if he is dealing with a mechanical issue, but given that pit stops are not expected in the 19-lap Sprint race, an issue is likely.

Lap 11: Hamilton has eased ahead of Verstappen, out of DRS range. The Red Bull driver now has to worry about his rear-view mirror, as it is filled with nothing but Piastri’s McLaren.

Lap 10: A fun battle shaping up at the back of the points between Yuki Tsunoda in P6 and Kimi Antonelli in P7. Antonelly is just 0.471 seconds behind the VCARB at the moment.

Lap 9: Hamilton continues to lead Verstappen, and the Red Bull driver is warned over the radio to play around with racing lines to try and find some clean air, to help with tire management.

Lap 8: Norris laments over the radio that he’s “driving so slow and killing the tire.”

Verstappen has closed within DRS range of Hamilton, and Piastri remains in striking distance. Piastri has opened up a lead of 2.412 seconds over Russell in P4, so this is a three-car race at the moment.

Lap 7: The incident between Doohan and Lawson is now under investigation.

Piastri is within DRS range of Verstappen. Now we can see if he can shape a move around the defending Drivers’ Champion.

Lap 6: An incident between Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan at Turn 14 on Lap 5 has been noted by race officials. Lawson made an overtake on Doohan stick, but got his elbows out a bit, causing some contact between the two.

Lap 5: While Hamilton and Verstappen run one-two, Oscar Piastri is lurking behind them, just 1.286 seconds behind Verstappen. Piastri might be waiting to see how tire degradation works over these next few laps before making a move.

Lap 3: Lap 3 begins with Verstappen just outside DRS range behind Hamilton.

Lap 2: George Russell sneaks by Charles Leclerc on the inside early in Lap 2, and slides into P4.

Lap 1: The F1 Sprint is underway in Shanghai. Hamilton jumps to the inside and gets ahead of Verstappen to hold the lead. Lando Norris gets shuffled down to P9 from his starting spot in P6.

11:03: Here is the layout at Shanghai International Circuit:

There are two DRS zones, and as you can see the long run to those first four turns means things off the start might not be settled until the end of Sector 1. Should be fun.

11:00: The formation lap is underway.

10:58: All 20 drivers are starting on the medium compound, as expected. Remember, no pit stops are required in an F1 Sprint race, so teams are expecting the medium compound to last at least 19 laps, even with the tire degradation issues we have seen this week.

10:54: “This weekend is all about managing the front tires,” says Alex Brundle on the F1TV pre-race show. The resurfaced track has been chewing up tires so far this week, and the driver that manages the tires best over these 19 laps might reach the top step of the podium.

10:44: “We’re out of position, in a good way,” says Max Verstappen to Lawrence Barretto ahead of the start.

10:32: Williams has been fined €50,000. — with €40,000 of that suspended — for their failure to “provide the video files recorded by the wireless forward and rearward cameras in the specified timescale.”

This is part of the FIA’s clampdown on “flex wings,” dating back to last season. The FIA has instructed teams to install cameras on their front and rear wings to allow for further oversight on those components. However, Williams did not provide the video files from those cameras after FP1, due to a miscommunication.

Race officials stated in Document 41 here that “[f]or avoidance of doubt, there was no suggestion that the wings were not in The Stewards compliance with the bodywork flexibility requirements under the Technical Regulations.”

10:24: We are live, and Nico Hülkenberg is headed for a pit lane start. Sauber changed the suspension on his car under parc ferme conditions, leading to the penalty. Hülkenberg was set to start the F1 Sprint race from P19.