Lewis Hamilton’s first victory as Ferrari driver for the Shanghai Sprint is a “significant” early moment in Formula 1’s new box office relationship. Sky Sports F1 Kalun Changduk.
The F1 sprint format takes place over six race weekends through a 24-race campaign, offering additional points to top 8 finishers – featuring unique qualifying sessions and short form 100km races, effectively standing from the main grand prix with big points and historic prestige.
Hamilton’s Wright to Flag victory in a 19-lap sprint in China on Saturday did not extend the record for 105 races’ victory.
but Sky Sports F1 Pundit and former driver Chandhok say the Sprint victory is in itself very important, Hamilton’s second weekend driving at Ferrari, surpassing his new teammate Charles Leclerc for the first time in all key sessions.
“It’s an important day. Ferrari is playing it down. They say it’s just a sprint, but only one day, but that’s important,” Chanduk said. Sky Sports News.
“After a dry qualifying, in the dry race, Lewis Hamilton was on the same track on the same tire and got on the pole to win.
“If it bares like a dog and smells like a dog, it’s a dog – it’s a race and he won it.
“It wasn’t a Grand Prix, it was a third of the distance, but he saw control. The one who missed the last three years was Lewis Hamilton. He stood up to the opportunity, went forward, broke the Doctor, rattled those raps metronomy and won the sprints.”
“This is what Ferrari signed to him.”
After celebrating his impressive sprint victory – his first victory in 19 attempts at Saturday’s race since the introduction in 2021 – Hamilton said that “yapping” critics in Australia on their disappointing debut weekend with Ferrari in Australia made “uneducated speculations” about why the Albert Park race turned out to be difficult when he finished 10th in the rain.
Chanduk added: “I thought it was a nasty race. Despite the fact that he is Lewis Hamilton and is definitely the best ever, he’ll take a few days.
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Hamilton was excited after winning his first race against Ferrari in a sprint around Shanghai International Circuit
“I thought there were some interesting things that came out of the Ferrari camp. [on Saturday]. Lewis himself said in Melbourne that Ferrari went along with the way he did things because it was his first weekend.
“But he came this weekend and he wasn’t waving his arm, but he said, “I want to try and find a sweet spot by changing some of what we do in the car, and changing the direction we go with the setup.”
“He talked about catching up with race engineer Ricardo Adami. He spent early on getting ready and got the car in the sweet spot he’d wanted for one practice session.”
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Hamilton led from start to finish
And with the early impact Hamilton has already had on F1’s most famous team, Chanduk added:
“They buy that experience, bring in over 100 Grand Prix wins and over 100 poles, and just a bit of maneuvering, rather than reinventing the wheels, he’s getting the goods back on track.”
Sky Sports F1 Live China GP Schedule
Sunday, March 23rd
- 2.40am: F1 Academy Race 2
- 5:30am: China GP Build-Up: Grand Prix Sunday*
- 7am: China’s Grand Prix*
- 9am: China’s GP Reaction: Checkered Flag*
- 10am: Ted’s Notebook*
*Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 will be in Shanghai this week on the first sprint weekend of the season at Chinese Grand Prix. Stream Sky Sports Now – No Contract, Cancel Anytime
