Max Verstappen surpasses Lewis Hamilton to claim dramatic Chinese Grand Prix Sprint victory… as Mercedes driver rolls back the years to enjoy timely reminder of his past success

The opening race of the season proved to be a welcome reminder of the good old days of Lewis Hamilton in Shanghai.

Days when he fought tooth and nail for race victories, instead of against his own car, as he did in recent seasons with this failing Mercedes of his.

The chance to claim the checkered flag for the first time in 868 days was ultimately denied in emphatic fashion by Max Verstappen after the Red Bull driver stormed to victory and added a further eight valuable championship points to his tally.

But for Hamilton, a second-place finish and the sorely missed highlight that comes from a challenge at the front of the grid was a timely reminder of why he dedicated 17 years of his life to the sport.

The smile on his face – which has understandably appeared sporadically in recent times – as he acknowledged the crowd was a sight to behold.

Verstappen moved to 15 points ahead of Sergio Perez at the top of the F1 driver standings

Hamilton claimed his second place reminded him of ‘why he loves driving F1’

‘Every time you achieve a good result, it is always a boost for your self-confidence. That’s the way of life and you have a good day and it definitely cheers you up,” Hamilton said.

‘I think the conditions are special with yesterday’s rain, but you still have to do that lap. At the end of the day, sitting in the front row, I can’t remember having that view for a long time. It feels like a long time. I don’t know if we’ve had this in recent years.

“Being able to fight for the lead in the first corner reminds me why I love what I do and what we do.”

It was vintage Hamilton when the lights went out as the Brit, who started second behind Lando Norris, was sharper off the line than his compatriot and held the inside line in the tight and narrower corners of turns one and two.

Norris ran wide and ultimately lost not only grip but six places, all but ending his chances of causing an upset.

Initially, Verstappen, who started fourth after struggling to keep his car on the straight during a wet sprint qualifying session on Friday, struggled to get onto the road from the second row. On the radio you heard the Dutchman ask his team ‘why is my battery empty?’.

But once that problem was solved, he managed to bring in first Fernando Alonso and then Hamilton. And after building a lead of more than two seconds over Hamilton within a lap of overtaking, Verstappen never looked back as he stormed to a remarkable eighth sprint race victory of his career.

‘I really had to defend the first two laps, but at the same time my battery was running out. It actually didn’t charge. So I had to make some changes to the steering wheel,” the 26-year-old said.

‘Once I had all that under control and when the peak of the new tires was gone, I could just trust the pace of the car.’

It was a vintage performance from Hamilton, who outpaced Lando Norris on the first lap

It was a frustrating day for pole sitter Norris, who veered off track early in the race

The McLaren driver would drop back into the field and finish in sixth place after the difficult start

Verstappen’s performance suggests it will take something extraordinary to topple him later today in qualifying for tomorrow’s race, the first to be held in China since 2019.

Hamilton has no illusions about the important role that rain played in qualifying. With nice weather for the rest of the weekend.

Hamilton added: “If I’m completely honest, we haven’t made a big step from the last race, the car is exactly the same and we have the same problems as in the last race.

“I think we’re probably in a similar position pace-wise. I think today it will be interesting to see if we can go one step further and try to get as close to the top five as possible, but we are not in the top five of the qualifiers at the moment. Just getting to the third quarter will be important today.”