Fans celebrated in joy as Lewis Hamilton took his first P1 in a Ferrari, winning the Sprint during the 2025 F1 Chinese Grand Prix weekend with a 6-second gap from the McLaren in P2. This was also Ferrari's first Sprint win, coming in after a very strong qualifying that put the Briton at the front of the grid.
Hamilton led his way from lights out to the checkered flag at the Shanghai International Circuit in a dominant show of power in his second race and first Sprint with the Scuderia Ferrari. His car has looked powerful all weekend so far, bringing his pole in at 1:30.849, which is a new lap record on the track (the earlier one was held by Sebastian Vettel in 2018).
As the Sprint kicked off, Lewis Hamilton got a much better start than Max Verstappen, who started in P2 and was able to cover off the Red Bull going into turn 1. The two shared a battle during the middle stage of the race as the Ferrari saw a graining front tire, but Verstappen also lost the tire advantage that pushed him to P3, giving Hamilton enough time and space to create a 6-second gap from Oscar Piastri in P2, clinching the victory.
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This was a major uplift for the team as they had a very poor race last week in the season-opening Australian GP. Fans celebrated his victory with joy as they wrote on social media:
"they tried to say my goat was washed"
"My GOAT is sooo back!!!" Celebrated another fan.
"THATS MY GOAT DAMN IT," another comment read.
Some users also joked about how Ferrari can be a dominant force when pit strategies are not involved, considering the situation the team was in back in Australia after a late stop.
"Ferrari is so good whenever they dont need to pit," the comment read.
"The guy will 100% tear everyone apart in the main race, no doubt about it. Finally we see Lewis at his usual strength," a fan claimed.
Lewis Hamilton admits not being "comfortable" with the Ferrari car in Melbourne
This is the first time in his career that Hamilton has driven a Ferrari-powered car. All the time he spent in F1 was spent behind the wheel of a car powered by Mercedes. It was estimated that it would take him some time to be properly acquainted with the car, which he admitted.
Speaking after the Sprint, Lewis Hamilton mentioned that he was much more comfortable with the SF-25 today than he was in Melbourne last week. While he did outline some tire issues he faced, the Briton appreciated the crew for making the car strong for the circuit.
"It felt great to come here and be more comfortable in the car because in Melbourne I didn't feel great in the car. From Lap 1 this weekend we have been on it," Lewis Hamilton said post-race (via Sky Sports).
"The engineers and mechanics have done a great job to finetune the car and it felt great. It's hard to look after the tyres but everyone was struggling."
Lewis Hamilton's teammate, Charles Leclerc, finished in P5 after sharing a battle with George Russell for P4 in the later stages of the race. However, he struggled on turn 13 on the track, right before the back straight, which hampered his chance for an overtake.
