Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was left to lament the time lost after his intense battle with his team mate, Lewis Hamilton did much to define the shape of Saturday’s Chinese Grand Prix sprint.
With the Monegasque driver admitting that his battle with his team mate did much to cost him the victory to George Russell, although his team did manage to claim a welcome double podium in China.
Russell won the 19 lap sprint for Mercedes, with Leclerc taking second place and Hamilton third after an early battle between the two Ferrari drivers at the front.
Hamilton, who started fourth made an incredible start to the Chinese Grand Prix sprint, passing Russell at Turn 9 only to then go back and forth with his team mate across the opening laps.
That left the door open for Charles Leclerc, who had moved up to challenge his team mate for the podium, eventually passing his team mate to finish just 0.674 seconds behind Russell at the finish.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari driver, said after the sprint: “I think the pace was quite strong. We had a bit of fighting which made me lose time to George and then it was difficult to catch up.”
Ferrari still had a lot to enjoy. According to Leclerc, the outcome demonstrated that the team’s race pace was significantly closer to Mercedes than its qualifying performance had indicated.
This was a positive indication after George Russell won sprint pole on Friday and Mercedes once more appeared sharp over a single lap.
Following the sprint, Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton remarked, “I put up a good fight, but their speed on the straights is a little bit too much right now.” I was unable to maintain my position because I killed my left tire.
A late safety car gave Leclerc a final opportunity to launch a challenge, although a snap on the restart ended that prospect and allowed Russell to take the win.
Nevertheless, Ferrari’s second and third place gave them a first double in the top three in any Formula 1 race since the 2024 Abu Dhabi finale.
