Lewis Hamilton picks up from where he left off on Friday as he wins the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
It was a nice and clean start for those at the front as Hamilton leads Verstappen through the first few turns. Norris, who had a poor sprint qualifying by his standards, dropped a couple of places on lap 1, leaving him in ninth place.
George Russell ended the first lap with a lovely move on the inside of Charles Leclerc at turn 14, bringing the Mercedes driver up to fourth place.
Liam Lawson was looking to make up for a poor sprint qualifying which saw him start this race in dead last, and attempted to make an overtake on Jack Doohan on lap 4, also at turn 14. While the move was successful, the two did bang wheels, which could have led to a spin or crash for either driver.
Lawson continued making his way up the field with a cleaner move on the inside of Esteban Ocon at turn 6 a few laps later, bringing him up to 17th.
Verstappen was able to stay within a relatively comfortable distance of Hamilton in the opening half of the race, but as the laps continued, the tyre degradation issues on the Red Bull began to show, and he started to fall away.
Norris was also another driver falling away. Despite being in a car that appears to be the fastest on the grid, he was actually seeing the gap to Stroll ahead increase as the laps went on.
Two of the Frenchman were fighting in the middle portion of the race, as Hadjar overtook Gasly on lap 9 on the inside of turn 16, only for Gasly to retake 14th from Hadjar following a wonderful move around the outside of turn 1.
The Williams of Carlos Sainz appeared to have an issue, with the Spaniard being called into the pits at the end of lap 11.
Eventually, Verstappen’s tyre issues were bad enough to bring Piastri into the fray, and on lap 15 the Australian would strike, taking second place from the reigning world champion. He would have hoped to try and chase down Hamilton in the remaining laps, but would be unsuccessful.
Norris would eventually find some more pace, and would take eighth place from Lance Stroll towards the end of the race, scoring himself a solitary point in this sprint.
Leclerc would attack George Russell on the final lap in a battle for fourth, but some savvy defending from the Brit would see Russell retain the position by the time the chequered flag was waved.
