George Russell claimed Sprint victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, following an early frenetic battle for the lead and surviving a late Safety Car.
The Mercedes driver started from pole for the 19 lap Sprint on Saturday, an unlike a week ago in Australia, Russell held the lead through the opening corners before conceding the position to a surging Hamilton at Turn 9 – the Ferrari man had started fourth on the grid.
The pair engaged in a tussle for the lead, swapping positions across the early laps until Russell made the decisive move into Turn 14 hairpin on Lap 15, pulling a gap to both Hamilton and Leclerc.
Leclerc eventually got the better of his team mate, finishing just 0.6 seconds behind Russell, the leading drivers having made a late pit stop following a Safety Car that was called when Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Audi needed to be retrieved.
The full top 10 are- P1: Russell, P2: Leclerc, P3: Hamilton, P4: Norris, P5: Antonelli, P6: Piastri, P7: Lawson, P8: Bearman, P9: Verstappen and P10: Ocon.
Great result for Russell, he is on a different level at the minute and is being rewarded with points and wins! As for Antonelli, not the best result at all, he had a poor start and then had to serve a 10 second time penalty after a collision with Isack Hadjar on the opening lap.
A great result for the Ferrari’s, they have had a great start to the season, and they are challenging for wins/podiums. Leclerc finishing P2 and Hamilton P3, a little fight with the Merc’s which is very good to see.
P4 for Norris, a decent result for him, a shame he couldn’t grab onto a podium. P6 for Piastri, a somewhat decent result, he got overtaken late on in the Sprint by Antonelli.
No points for Verstappen where he finished P9, not a great race for the Red Bulls at all, especially with Hadjar being crashed into and finishing a horrible 15th.
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