Max Verstappen overcame early electronic gremlins in Saturday’s Chinese Grand Prix sprint to claim a commanding victory from fourth on the grid, 13 ahead of Lewis Hamilton Second. The Dutchman overtook seven-time world champion Hamilton’s Mercedes on lap nine of the 19-lap sprint race. Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez finished third after a tight battle with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

“The first few laps were very busy,” Verstappen said after scoring eight points for his first sprint win of the season at the Shanghai International Circuit.

“The wind direction changes a lot, which makes driving difficult.

“Once we sort out the (battery) issue we’ll be fine,” added Verstappen, who extended his lead over Perez to 25 points.

Leclerc and Sainz ended up finishing fourth and fifth after swapping positions several times in a dramatic battle with Perez and Alonso for the secondary positions.

Aston Martin’s Alonso had his worst performance against Ferrari when his car suffered a puncture on lap 18 and retired.

Lando Norris started from pole position but only crossed the finish line in sixth place in his McLaren, ahead of teammates Oscar Piastri and George Lacey George Russell finished eighth and became the leader in the sprint standings.

Norris’s price is high

Hamilton started second but started fastest, staying on the inside for the first two corners and emerging in front after Norris ran away.

It was costly for the McLaren driver, who found himself seventh after the first lap.

Alonso finished second and Verstappen third despite complaints from the championship leader about a drained battery.

By lap five, Hamilton had opened up a 1.3-second gap and, crucially, was beyond the range of Alonso’s DRS attack.

Verstappen solved his electrical problem on lap seven and passed Alonso on the long straight.

Two laps later he was up to Hamilton’s standards and passed him on the final hairpin.

With the track ahead clear, Verstappen drove quickly into the distance, the gap with Mercedes increasing by nearly one second per lap, and Hamilton finishing second.

“This is the best result I’ve had in a long time, so I’m very happy and grateful,” said an ecstatic Hamilton, who has seven points from just 10 points in the first four games of the season.

“We couldn’t compete with Red Bull and it was a tough race, but I learned a lot about the car through this short stay, so I’m excited for tomorrow’s race.”

This is the first of six sprint races on the 24-race F1 schedule in 2024 and the first time the new weekend format is adopted.

This means that Grand Prix qualifying remains on the usual Saturday afternoon, with the cars preparing for Sunday’s main event.

The changes have been welcomed by drivers and teams, who can now adjust their car setup after a Grand Prix qualifying sprint session, something that was not allowed before.

On the first Chinese Grand Prix weekend since 2019, huge crowds turned out to watch China’s first Formula One driver, Shanghai native Zhou Guanyu, make his home debut in his third season in top-flight racing.

Tickets for Sunday’s race were sold out within minutes and fans cheered when Zhou pushed his Sauber into the top 10 in wet sprint qualifying on Friday.

He started 10th in dry conditions and moved up one place after the opening skirmish.

Zhou finished painfully ninth after being overtaken by Russell, who started 11th but took full advantage of a quicker start on the soft tires.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)