Russell survives early Hamilton attack to win sprint

George Russell claimed victory in an eventful Formula 1 sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix, despite losing the lead to Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap.

As seen in Melbourne, Russell found himself under immediate fire from a fast-starting Ferrari in the opening array of corners; this time, it was Hamilton rather than Charles Leclerc who played the role of aggressor at the start of the lap.

Hamilton duly made his move down the inside of Russell at Turn 9 to pick up the lead, with the hope of converting it into a second consecutive China sprint win. However, Russell put some of his battery charge into retaliating at Turn 14, coming up for air with the lead but ultimately without the tools to defend into Turn 1.

As a result, Hamilton was able to repass his former team-mate; Russell’s next attempt was effectively a carbon copy of that on the previous lap, one that the Ferrari driver could again leverage into a return to the lead.

Russell eventually made the Turn 14 move work at the end of the fifth lap, and managed to hold it into the first corner of the following lap. Hamilton soon started to lose ground as his tyres were graining, his front left looking particularly fierce, which allowed Leclerc to pick up second place.

Just as it seemed that the action had dwindled, a safety car emerged at the end of lap 13 as Nico Hulkenberg pulled up at Turn 1; the top six all elected to pit, giving Leclerc an opportunity to offer Russell a late challenge. Yet, the Monegasque had a slide out of Turn 14 on the restart, all but converting Russell’s lead into victory.

Leclerc claimed second, while Hamilton got over the time and position loss to Lando Norris – accrued in double-stacking behind Leclerc in the pits – to finish third ahead of the McLaren driver.

Kimi Antonelli was fifth, despite enduring a poor start in which he slipped from the front row to eighth. Subsequent contact with Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull on the opening lap sent a 10-second penalty Antonelli’s way, one that the Italian served in the pits after making his way back past the Ferrari pair.

Although Antonelli had been passed by Oscar Piastri on the restart, the Australian appeared to have made the move before the start-finish line and was asked to move aside for the Mercedes driver.

Piastri finished sixth as a result, as Liam Lawson made the hard tyre work to claim seventh ahead of Oliver Bearman. Neither Lawson nor Bearman pitted, which offered track position but left them vulnerable late on to a hard-charging Max Verstappen – who missed out on points.

Verstappen dropped to the back of the field after a very sluggish getaway, but recovered to sit on the cusp of the top eight after dicing past Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in the final stages of the race.

Chinese Grand Prix – Sprint results

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– The Autosport.com Team