"I didn't expect that we would hang on to P2" - Lewis Hamilton’s sprint result praised by Mercedes chief

Lewis Hamilton's podium finish in the sprint race during the Chinese GP has garnered praise from Mercedes chief James Allison, who emphasized that the seven-time world champion outperformed his machinery.

After delivering an impressive qualifying performance in the wet conditions, Hamilton lined up second on the grid for the 19-lap sprint race. The veteran Mercedes driver stole the lead from pole-sitter Lando Norris and took home a comfortable second-place finish, trailing Max Verstappen by 13 seconds.

In the Chinese GP debrief, Mercedes Technical Director James Allison commended Lewis Hamilton's wet weather skills for qualifying on the front row in tricky conditions. He also conceded that he didn't expect Hamilton to keep the track position with faster cars starting behind him.

"I didn't expect that we would hang on to P2 because I don't think the car's quick enough to merit that at the moment. The rain was a tricky thing for everybody in sprint qualifying. I think we've got to take our hats off to Lewis for absolutely getting it together in incredibly difficult circumstances in that sprint qualification," Allison said on the post-race debrief [3:02].

"But in the dry conditions of the sprint race, I felt we were likely to get swallowed up by the two Red Bulls, by others as well, because we do have a pace difference to the leading cars at the moment."

Allison added that Lewis Hamilton was aided by Lando Norris's poor start and Fernando Alonso keeping the faster cars at bay. However, he praised Hamilton for the controlled drive and maximizing the result in the sprint race.

"I don't want to downplay the achievement because I think it was a very, very well-controlled drive by Lewis who got the absolute max out of the car in that day," he concluded.

---

James Allison elaborates on Lewis Hamilton's "uncharacteristic" qualifying error

After capping off the sprint race with a P2 result, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes suffered a major setback in the qualifying session. Hamilton was knocked out in the first round and relegated to an 18th-place starting position for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion took the blame for locking up in the hairpin which cost him a higher starting position. However, James Allison considered it an uncharacteristic mistake and suggested that the team was also to be blamed for the qualifying error.

"Lewis would hold his hand up and say 'my mistake, my error.' I think we would be a little more rounded and say that's our mistake and we should frankly be making a car that is not so tricky as the one we've got at the moment which is causing the drivers to make very uncharacteristic errors," Allison said in the debrief [8:25].

"Locking up at the end of a straight into a hairpin is not in Lewis' recipe book and it's a consequence of the car being too tricky," he added

Lewis Hamilton rallied to a P9 finish in the Chinese GP. Five races into the season, he occupies ninth place in the drivers' standings.