George Russell won the Sprint race in China » Spectacular duel with Ferrari drivers

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China, the second stop of the Grand Circus this season, also brought the first Sprint race. 100 kilometers, divided into 19 laps. And George Russell, who also won the Australian Grand Prix, proved once again that Mercedes built the best car in this season opener.

George Russell won the China Sprint Race

Starting from pole position, Russell had a good start and held his position. The same cannot be said for his colleague, who went from 2nd to 8th. Ferrari once again proved that it has the best command of race starts. And Hamilton reached 2nd, from 4th, and Leclerc reached 3rd, from 6th.

From here, some extremely spectacular laps followed, with Hamilton and Russell passing each other one after the other. While Leclerc was waiting for the right moment, and Antonelli was recovering position after position.

In the end, George Russell distanced himself from his rivals, while Leclerc reached 2nd place, overtaking Hamilton, who in turn was overtaken by Antonelli, the driver who at the end of the race would receive a 10-second penalty.

The Safety Car that changed everything

On lap 13, Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) retired, leading to the Safety Car. Most drivers entered the pits to switch to the soft tires, and at the end of the SC (laps 17), the order was: Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton.

On the restart, Russell tried to quickly distance himself from Leclerc and held on to first position, with the Monegasque trying to stay under a second behind the Briton in order to attack him on the final lap. But the Mercedes driver managed the end of the race very well and crossed the finish line first, followed by Leclerc, 0.7 seconds behind. And Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd.

Lando Norris, Kimi Antonelli, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman also finished in points.

China Sprint Race Ranking

1. George Russell
2. Charles Leclerc +0.674 seconds
3. Lewis Hamilton +2,554
4. Lando Norris +4,433
5. Kimi Antonelli +5,688
6. Oscar Piastri +6,809
7. Liam Lawson +10,900
8. Oliver Bearman +11,271
9. Max Verstappen +11,619
10. Esteban Ocon +13,887
11. Pierre Gasly +14,780
12. Carlos Sainz +15,753
13. Gabriel Bortoleto +15,858
14. Franco Colapinto +16,393
15. Isaac Hadjaj +16,430
16. Alexander Albon +20,014
17. Fernando Alonso +21,599
18. Lance Stroll +21,971
19. Sergio Perez +28,241
20. Nico Hulkenberg – dropout
21. Valtteri Bottas – abandonment
22. Arvid Lindblad – dropout

Overall ranking of pilots

1. George Russell – 33 points

2. Kimi Antonelli – 22 points

3. Charles Leclerc – 22 points

4. Lewis Hamilton – 18 points

5. Landon Norris – 15 points

6. Max Verstappen – 8 points

7. Oliver Bearman – 7 points

8. Arvid Lindblad – 4 points

9. Oscar Piastri – 3 points

10. Liam Lawson – 2 points

11. Gabriel Bortoleto – 2 points

12. Pierre Gasly – 1 point

13. Esteban Ocon – 0 points

14. Alexander Albon – 0 points

15. Franco Colapinto – 0 points

16. Carlos Sainz – 0 points

17. Sergio Perez – 0 points

18. Isack Hadjar – 0 points

19. Nico Hulkenberg – 0 points

20. Fernando Alonso – 0 points

21. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points

22. Lance Stroll – 0 points

General ranking of builders

1. Mercedes – 55 points
2. Ferrari – 40 points
3. McLaren – 18 points
4. Red Bull – 8 points
5. Haas – 7 points
6. Racing Bulls – 6 points
7. Audi – 2 points
8. Alpine – 1 point
9. Williams – 0 points
10. Cadillac – 0 points
11. Aston Martin – 0 points