George Russell won ‘a pretty fun’ sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday, as the Mercedes driver continued his early-season dominance by leading home both Ferraris.
Russell enjoyed a ding-dong battle in the opening laps with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, as the pair traded places at the front several times. Later he had to fend off the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc after a late safety car, with the Monegasque driver coming home second with Hamilton in third.
“There was a lot going on, but it makes it quite fun and definitely feels more like a go-kart race in the past,” said Russell, while referencing the new generation of cars.
Mercedes driver George Russell battles Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton with Charles Leclerc trailing them. Pics/AFP
“It was pretty fun in the end, lots of strategy at play on how to do the overtakes. It is not easy, I hope it was a fun race to watch. Usually the sprint races are pretty boring. I got everything under control, then the safety car [happened], but really happy to get the win,” added Russell, who leads the standings on 33 points — 11 ahead of his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, who finished fifth.
The safety car on lap 13 of the 19 saw the entire field dive into the pits for fresh tyres, with leader Russell emerging still in front. Antonelli had been third at that point but served a 10-second penalty in the pit lane for causing an earlier collision.
World champion Lando Norris came fourth in his McLaren while teammate Oscar Piastri finished sixth. Liam Lawson in his RB and Oliver Bearman in the Haas were seventh and eighth respectively to round out the points scorers.
Two
No. of sprint race victories for Russell; his first sprint race win was at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2022
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