Grand Prix of China: Lewis Hamilton cheered the first Ferrari victory

Formula 1 record world champion Lewis Hamilton was successful in the Shanghai sprint in Ferrari. The 40-year-old Brit prevailed over 100 kilometers of Oscar Piatri in the first short race of the year in the McLaren and world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. After changing Mercedes, with which he had won six of his seven World Cup titles, Hamilton in Shanghai surprised with his success on his second race weekend for the Scuderia.

“I woke up today and felt very good,” said Hamilton: “We did a good job here from the first round. It felt great.”

At the start in Melbourne, Hamilton was still disappointed a week ago. “I don’t feel pressure. We have to stay calm and take one step after the other,” said Hamilton: “Rome was not built in one day either.”

Norris fails and misses the pedestal

While Hamilton confidently defended his pole position at the start of the aggressive Verstappen, World Cup leader Norris failed again. A braking in the qualification had already cost the favorite British a better position in qualification on Friday. The 25-year-old was only sixth in the McLaren, and in the first round he fell back to ninth after a driving error.

Norris won the opening racing in Australia last week, but remained at the top after Sprint rank and one point eight. “I wasn’t really good today. I just felt terrible in the race. We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Norris.

Hamilton quickly complained about problems with the left front tire as a result of overheating. On the completely newly paved slope, this bike in Shanghai is particularly heavily burdened because of the many fast right -hand bends. However, the veteran was not strongly influenced by it and celebrated a start-finish victory. Four laps before the end, Verstappen lost his second place to Piatri, who pushed himself past with a though overtaking maneuver.

Verstappen lurks in the overall World Cup ranking

Nico Hülkenberg had to be satisfied with the 19th and thus the penultimate place after the Rhinelander was the last to start from the pit lane after a few technical changes to his car.

Norris now has to defend his narrow World Cup lead before Verstappen in the Grand Prix. The main race will take place on Sunday (8:00 a.m./RTL and Sky). Verstappen won the China Grand Prix in front of Norris last year.