SHANGHAI — George Russell claimed Sprint victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
The Mercedes driver started from pole for the 19-lap Sprint on Saturday, and 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 the Turn 14 hairpin on Lap 5, pulling a gap to both Hamilton and Leclerc.
Leclerc eventually got the better of his teammate, 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.
“I just spoke with Charles, we were like, ‘Actually, this is pretty fun in the end’! A lot of strategy at play and how you do the overtakes. It’s not easy,” Russell said. “I hope it was a fun race to watch – usually the Sprint races are pretty boring – and then I got everything under control, [then there was the] Safety Car, but really happy to win.”
Hamilton recovered to third having dropped behind Lando Norris, the seven-time World champion forced to stack behind Leclerc after the late flurry in the pits.
Norris claimed fourth from the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, the young Italian having suffered a poor start from the front row and forced to serve a 10-second penalty in the pits after a collision with Isack Hadjar on the opening lap.
