Hamilton and the thrill of leadership: “Beautiful, I needed it”

Second place by the author

Looking at the order of arrival of the Sprint in China without having followed the previous four races could be misleading. Lewis Hamilton he finished in second place, a real feat considering the current level of the Mercedes eliminated yesterday in Q2 with George Russell.

The rain that fell yesterday in Q3 gave Hamilton a chance to extract the rabbit from the top hat and the seven-time world champion didn't let it slip away. Likewise today at the start of the Sprint the Mercedes driver forcefully took the lead, forcing Lando Norris to go too wide in Turn-1. Hamilton held the lead for half the race, then had to bow to the superiority of the Red Bull-Verstappen duo.

Hamilton still finished ahead of Sergio Perez thanks to the 'stop' from Fernando Alonso, who strenuously held onto third position only to then give in to the attacks of Carlos Sainz and his other pursuers. “I missed lining up in the front row with no one in front – explained Hamilton in the post-Sprint – as well as fighting wheel to wheel with Norris for the lead at the start and then leading for a few laps it made me remember why I love this sport. Second place is exceptional, qualifying will be difficult because the other cars are very fast in the dry, but we can still make some changes and I hope this can allow us to qualify better than in the last races.”