Championship Battle Gets Intense after Chinese GP Sprint

With the Round 2 Sprint now completed, both the Drivers’ and Constructors' championship races are starting to heat up, meaning that we very well could be in for a truly exciting 2025 season.

Chinese GP Pole sitter Piastri (Middle), frontrunner George Russell starting P2 (Left), and current Drivers' leader Lando Norris starting from P3 (Right).
Source: Getty Images

Current Drivers’ Championship leader Lando Norris had a pretty rough race, only starting P6, and quickly falling behind to P9 on the first lap. After making a crucial overtake on Lance Stroll during Lap 17, Norris finished the day at P8, giving him only 1 point to add to his total – which is now 26 points.

Max Verstappen had a solid qual and race, giving him a start at P2, and drove aggressively through the entire race. Unfortunately, Oscar Piastri eventually caught up to and overtook the reigning champ, leaving Verstappen to finish the day in P3 - giving him an extra 6 points, and cutting Norris’ lead down to 2.

Russell finding his line during a qualifying session.
Source: Getty Images

George Russell made a solid overtake on Charles Leclerc on Lap 1, putting him up to P4 – where he would ultimately finish 18 Laps later. His consistency and grit netted himself and the Mercedes team 5 points, bringing his 3rd place total up to 20 points, just 4 behind Verstappen.

Rookie sensation Kimi Antonelli did extremely well handling his own against his veteran counterparts, only being passed once by Yuki Tsunoda. His performance added 2 more points to his totals, bringing him up to 14 points and sitting comfortably in 4th place.

Unluckily for Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, and Nico Hülkenburg, they all finished outside the points at P11, P9, and P19 respectively. This keeps Albon at 5th in the standings, drops Stroll down from 6th and into 8th, and drops Hülkenburg from 7th to 10th.

Piastri showing excellent form during his qualifying lap.
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Lewis Hamilton secured the Scuderia 8 points for his Sprint victory yesterday, bringing up to 6th place in the Drivers’ standings with 9 points. Currently tied with Hamilton is Piastri, who took P2 from Verstappen and secured an extra 7 points to add to his total and moved him up to 7th place.

Charles Leclerc did a decent job at staying in the top 5, only being passed by an eager Russell to drop into P5 where he finished the day. Nonetheless, this grabbed him an extra 4 points, and tied him with Stroll for 8th place.

Tsunoda had a great start, making his moves early on in the first lap, and holding off Mercedes’ Antonelli the entire race. His performance in the Sprint today saw him take P6 and and 3 points, which puts him up the leaderboard into 11th.

Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan, and Isack Hadjar still have yet to score any points this season, but with 22 races left there is still plenty of time to make a play for the championship.

Piastri gets his first pole of the season in Chinese GP.
Source: Getty Images

All eyes will now be on McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who sits on Pole for the Chinese GP later today, to see if he can put in his bid for the Drivers' Championship against teammate Lando Norris, who will line up in P3 behind George Russell. Can McLaren add to their early lead, or will Mercedes be able to swoop in and steal it away?

Hamilton leads Ferrari to First Sprint Victory

Lewis Hamilton put on a masterclass in tire management today in Shanghai, leading Ferrari to its first ever sprint race victory, winning the round 2 Sprint Race by nearly 7 seconds over McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

Pre-Race Review

After finishing in Melbourne at P-10, Hamilton showed off his skills and determination at the Sprint Qualifying Sessions in Shanghai on Friday – landing him his first pole position with Ferrari.

Max Verstappen was lining up alongside Hamilton in 2nd, parking his car at the line at a slight angle in an attempt to cut the pole-sitter off at Turn 1.

Meanwhile, Nico Hülkenburg was forced to start from the pits after Kick Sauber changed out the suspension in his C45, meaning that Liam Lawson moved up on the starting grid to P-19.

Highlights

As the lights went out, Hamilton was quick on the draw and made a clean getaway, beating Verstappen off the line and getting an early advantage over the ever-hungry reigning champ.

But further back in the pack, the battles were just getting started. Yuki Tsunoda made an early move to take P-7 from Kimi Antonelli, and Lance Stroll grabbed P-9 from Alex Albon coming into Turn 1. Carlos Sainz also snatched P-12 from Oliver Bearman, while Pierre Gasly grabbed P-16 from Jack Doohan during Turn 1, then overtook Isack Hadjar in Turn 2.

Going into the first hairpin at Turn 6, Norris lined himself up wide and dipped his tires in the gravel and dropped 3 positions in the process, being pounced on by Tsunoda, Antonelli, and Stroll.

George Russell moved up to P-4 when he got close enough to attempt an overtake on Charles Leclerc between Turn 14 and 15, which is where he stayed for the remainder of the race. Leclerc did fight back through the rest of the race, but was never able to get past the Russell-driven W16.

Lawson showcased both his talent and his desperation today by sending the RB21 deep into the final hairpin at Turn 14, where he overtook Doohan on Lap 5 for P-18 and made contact with the Alpine rookie in the process. Lawson seemed unphased by the contact and slight lift to his vehicle, as he stayed on the track and kept making up ground. Determined to show his value to the team, Lawson once again lunged deep into the hairpin at Turn 14, this time making a clean overtake on Haas' Esteban Ocon during Lap 7.

Halfway through the race, Norris radios in to ask how everyone else is doing on tire wear, as his front left is pretty far gone. This might be due to the dip in the gravel he made during Lap 1, but either way, he's losing ground to Stroll – who's currently in the points at P-8.

As Hamilton began to pull away in the second half of the 19 Lap sprint race, Piastri started to catch up to Verstappen, who would lead the McLaren on a cat-and-mouse style chase for about 2 laps. Piastri wouldn’t have the opportunity to pass the reigning champ until Lap 15, when he sent the McLaren to the inside coming down the back straight coming into the hairpin at Turn 14.

What I found strange was that Verstappen didn't even attempt to block this move, but this may have been due to the fact that he was already nursing his tires and didn't want to risk losing out on an easy podium finish.

Right around this time, Norris had seemed to find his rhythm again and started gaining on Stroll, making a mad dash to finish the day in the points. Showing his ferocity and determination, Norris caught Stroll on the back straight during Lap 17 and made a move coming into Turn 14. As they came around, Norris edged ahead of Turn 15, and took the last of the points-paying positions from the Aston Martin.

At the end of the race, Hamilton’s engineer came over the radio to tell him of his victory, saying “Congrats, it was a masterclass in tire management.”

Driver Performances

Driver of the day - Lewis Hamilton

Earning his first pole position with the Scuderia, and bringing home their first ever Sprint win, today's Driver of the Day is Lewis Hamilton. Not only did he win the race, but he actually looked like the Lewis Hamilton we expected to see driving a Ferrari. After finishing P-10 last week, he definitely had a lot to prove coming into this race, and he far exceeded expectations.

Honorable Mention - Liam Lawson

After a rough season opener, and starting last for the Sprint Race, Liam Lawson was starting to look like he wouldn't get much more of a chance to prove himself to Red Bull before they might give him the boot, just like they did a few seasons ago. Undoubtedly feeling the pressure looming overhead, Lawson remained calm and composed, and made quite a few moves through the entirety of the race. Besides banging wheels with Doohan during his first deep dive in the hairpin, he showed tremendous race craft and overtaking ability.

Tough Stuff Award - Lando Norris

After dipping into the gravel and losing 3 positions, to being flat out and losing pace to Stroll, Norris had a very rough start to the Sprint weekend to say the least. However, his desire to win saw him come back to taking the last of the points available for the race. This should help to light a fire under Lando and his pit crew, pushing them a little harder to get the setup just right for the GP on Sunday.

Race Results

Coming into the Sprint today, Norris had a 7 point lead over rival Verstappen, which is now down to just 2 points, while Hamilton, Piastri and Russell inch ever closer to the top of the standings.

1. Lewis Hamilton – +8 pts

2. Oscar Piastri – +7 pts

3. Max Verstappen – +6 pts

4. George Russell – +5 pts

5. Charles Leclerc – +4 pts

6. Yuki Tsunoda – +3 pts

7. Kimi Antonelli – +2 pts

8. Lando Norris – +1 pt

Conclusion

With the Sprint Race now completed, the drivers have only a few hours to rest and prepare their vehicles for the Grand Prix Qualifying Sessions, and attempt to best Ferrari in a pole that is now theirs for the taking.

"Gobsmacked" Hamilton clinches pole for Shanghai Sprint Race

Source: Getty Images

After a seemingly disastrous start to their 2025 season, Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton has secured Pole position coming into the Shanghai Sprint race this weekend, besting Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Oscar Piastri by less than .02 seconds.

Determined to redeem himself after a P10 finish in his Ferrari debut in Melbourne, Hamilton showcased great pace and exceptional consistency throughout the qualifying session in Shanghai on Friday, proving that 7-Time World Champ should not be counted out this season. While it's true that Hamilton is still learning the ins-and-outs of the Ferrari SF-25, this is only the 2nd time he's qualified pole for a sprint race in his career.

Source: Getty Images

Hamilton performed beautifully during the first session of qualifying, beating McLaren's Lando Norris to the line by just .18 seconds. However, during SQ2, Hamilton finished P-4 behind both McLaren drivers, and Mercedes’ driver George Russell, showing that neither team would be counted out in this race.

Australian GP winner Norris, who set the fastest lap during SQ2, was left to abandon his SQ3 run after briefly locking up the tires coming into Turn 13, forcing him wide and just slightly off-track. During an interview after qualifying, Norris commented on his performance saying that the McLaren was “...just too difficult of a car to drive” before he added that “It was more me rather than the car. I can't make the car perfect, but this was just me trying to push a bit too much.”

Verstappen also displayed tremendous pace and skill during his outing in SQ3, which secured P-2 for the Red Bull team, barely being out-qualified by Hamilton by 0.018 seconds. Meanwhile, Red Bull teammate Liam Lawson seems to be struggling a bit behind the wheel getting knocked out of SQ1, and will be starting the sprint from P-20. When asked about the performance, Lawson told reporters that he was experiencing issues with his tires overheating through the session saying, “Basically we started too hot and then through the lap I just struggled. It's frustrating.”

While Norris had to settle for P-6 after aborting his SQ3 run, Piastri was able to lock down P-3 for the McLaren team, crossing the line behind Verstappen by just 0.062 seconds. This shows that the young driver will be a force to be reckoned with this season, and may even challenge Norris for the top spot in the Drivers' standings. When asked his thoughts on the team's Sprint Qual session, Piastri admitted that McLaren had tried a different approach to SQ3, which may not have been the right call to make looking back, but that he is “still confident to fight from third tomorrow”.

Source: Getty Images

After the session, Hamilton told reporters that he was “gobsmacked” about his session and added, “I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car. I just can't believe we're at the front, ahead of the McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, and obviously in the last race, and even today. I'm just really grateful to be up there fighting with these great drivers.” In another interview, Hamilton added “Obviously it's not the main race so we've got work to do for tomorrow, but it puts us in a good stead for the race.” That it does Lewis, that it does.

With the grid now set for the Shanghai Sprint, which starts in just a few hours, can Ferrari manage to take home the gold on Saturday, or will another perilous pit strategy keep them from achieving another podium this season?