Hamilton and Perez finish behind the Dutchman, fourth and fifth place for Leclerc and Sainz
Max Verstappen he won Sprint Race of the Chinese GPfifth round of the World Championship F1, and placed another mini-stretch in the world championship standings. The Dutchman from Red Bull, who started from fourth place, only needed 9 laps to take the lead and clear the way. Behind him it closed Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes, which had mocked the poleman Norris at the start, while the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez, now -15 from the top. Off the podium Ferrariwith Charles Leclerc who managed to snatch fourth place from Carlos Sainz in the final laps after a tense and spectacular duel.
Not even a wet and not particularly brilliant qualifying was able to put a stop to the domination of the three-time world champion. TO Verstappen it was enough to get the tires up to temperature taking on his opponents one by one with his usual, disarming ease and take the first Sprint race of the year.
Behind him, however, there was no shortage of spectacle. Hamilton he returned to savor the joys of a podium that he had missed since the 2023 Mexican GP thanks to a huge gap at the start which allowed him to close the door on Norris’ McLarenthen finished long and forced into a comeback race (6th at the finish line).
Perez instead he managed to come away with third place at the end of one incredible battle with Alonso and Sainz: the head-to-head between the two Spaniards opened the doors of the podium to the Mexican, while Fernando emerged with broken bones (puncture for his Aston Martin, later forced to retire) e Carlos found himself without the energy to respond to his teammate’s assaultalthough the overtaking then made him sweatalso arousing a bit of nervousness in Leclerc. The Monegasque still took one small revenge for the last racesconsolidating its third place in the rankings.
The other McLaren also finished in the points Plates (7th) and the other Mercedes of Russell (8th).
