Verstappen Dominates China's F1 Sprint Race, Hamilton Finishes Second

JAKARTA - Max Verstappen of Red Bull, won his first Formula One season sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday. The 26-year-old Dutchman defeated Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes for 13.043 seconds in a 19-lap race at Shanghai International Circuit to widen the scoring over his team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished third, to 15 points.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari occupy fourth and fifth positions.

McLaren's Lando Norris started the race from pole but slipped widely on the opening lap while fighting with Hamilton and ended in sixth place. His team-mates, Oscar Piastri, finished seventh, and George Russell from Mercedes eighth to take the final point.

Verstappen started the race from fourth place and had early difficulties before passing Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin, who retired due to flat tires and damage after battling a wheel with Sainz, on the seventh lap, and then Hamilton two laps later.

"The first few laps were a bit hectic, they were quite pushing hard up front, and of course I had Carlos behind with a new tire so it was initially very difficult," said the three-time world champion. "But then we got stronger and I felt a little more comfortable with the balance of the car and could keep my tires well, so I'm very happy with that."

Hamilton, seven times world champion, said his team had made great progress by finishing their first top three in this campaign. "This is the best result I've had in a long time," said the 39-year-old racer. "I found a lot about cars through the rest of this race, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Qualifications for the main race take place on Saturday and Hamilton doesn't expect Mercedes to fight for pole. "We're still not as fast as one lap like Ferrari, Red Bull," he said. "I think McLarens is in front of us for sure and maybe Astons too.

"I don't expect us to fight for the front row, but what's profitable is that we can make some adjustments so hopefully I can upgrade the car in the next three hours and have a better qualifying session than we ever had before," Hamilton said.

Norris started from pole but resigned after Hamilton escaped faster from the starting line. "Maybe I could be in one or two positions higher but that's all," said Norris. "Mercedes has a very good pace today. Our race speed is quite bad today."

Red Bull's Perez said he took full advantage of the fight between Alonso and Sainz. "Carlos and Fernando are fighting and obviously we are all experiencing high relegation following each other and at some point I also have to defend from Charles," the Mexican said.

"I got past Fernando and Carlos, they were a bit too close, I saw chances and I did, we finished very close to Lewis," said Sainz.

Sainz and Leclerc were then involved in another fight, the two Ferraris collided with each other's wheels as the Spaniard glided wide and the Monaco racer drove first.

Host Zhou Guanyu finished ninth for Sauber, who is still waiting for their first point of the season, with Kevin Magnussen finishing tenth for Haas.