Max Verstappen claimed victory in China for the first Chinese Sprint Shootout on Saturday, besting Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez in the 19-lap affair after starting 4th on the grid. The Red Bull came under threat initially from the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz as Verstappen radioed to the team that his “battery is flat”, but managed to stay clear and attack for position against Alonso and finally Hamilton before taking the lead on lap nine and waltzing to victory by 13.043 seconds over Hamilton.
SPRINT START: Hamilton launches into the lead in Shanghai after off-track moment for pole-sitter Norris
Further down the field, the battle for 3rd intensified on lap 16 when Alonso, Sainz, LeClerc, and Perez came together in an epic series of corners that saw Perez leap from 6th to 3rd as Sainz and Alonso came together, forcing the Aston Martin to retire with 2 laps remaining with damage as a result of the collision. Further on, the Ferrari duo came together in the penultimate corner of lap 17 with Sainz forcing LeClerc wide and off line, prompting the Monegasque driver to question the actions of his Spanish teammate.
With Perez in 3rd, LeClerc would overtake for 4th place on his teammate, dropping Sainz to 5th ahead of polesitter Lando Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri in 6th and 7th, respectively. Norris, starting from pole, lost out into turns one and two against Hamilton as the 7-time champion forced the McLaren wide in the tightening right hander, dropping Norris back to 7th before the end of the 2nd turn.
Zhou Guanyu, racing on home soil for the first time in Formula 1, ended his sprint race in 9th place just behind the Mercedes of George Russell in 8th while Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top 10.
Full race results are below, tune in at 15:00 local time for the three-round qualifying for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.
FP1 Report – CLICK HERE
Sprint Qualifying Report – CLICK HERE
FORMULA 1 LENOVO CHINESE GRAND PRIX 2024 Schedule
| Date | Session | Time (Local Circuit) |
| Apr. 19th | Practice 1 | 11:30 – 12:30 |
| Sprint Qualifying | 15:30 – 16:14 | |
| Apr. 20th | Sprint | 11:00 – 12:00 |
| Qualifying | 15:00 – 16:00 | |
| Apr. 21st | Race | 15:00 |
Sprint Race Results:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 19 | 32:04.660 | 8 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 19 | 13.043s | 7 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 19 | 15.258s | 6 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 19 | 17.486s | 5 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 19 | 20.696s | 4 |
| 6 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 19 | 22.088s | 3 |
| 7 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 19 | 24.713s | 2 |
| 8 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 19 | 25.696s | 1 |
| 9 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 19 | 31.951s | 0 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 19 | 37.398s | 0 |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 19 | 37.840s | 0 |
| 12 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 19 | 38.295s | 0 |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 19 | 39.841s | 0 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 19 | 40.299s | 0 |
| 15 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 19 | 40.838s | 0 |
| 16 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 19 | 41.870s | 0 |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 19 | 42.998s | 0 |
| 18 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 19 | 46.352s | 0 |
| 19 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 19 | 49.630s | 0 |
| 20 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 17 | DNF | 0 |
