2024 Chinese Grand Prix - Sprint Race Results & Summary

Max Verstappen won the first sprint race of the season at Shanghai International Circuit after starting from the second row on the grid.

Lando Norris came into the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race with quite a decent chance of scoring his first-ever win starting from the pole. However, his dream vanished as he fell to P7 already in turn one.

The McLaren driver got a worse start than the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton in P2. The start/ finish straight isn't too long ahead of the first corner, but Hamilton was already ahead before it.

As the two went side by side through the infinite first turn of the Chinese Grand Prix, the McLaren driver lost grip on the outside and went outside the track, which lost him all the time.

The Mercedes driver couldn't hold on to the P1 for too long as Max Verstappen inevitably came to the lead of the race after starting from P4.

While the number 44 driver would like to challenge the Dutchman, he just didn't have the power in his car to do so. Consequently, he got overtaken into turn number 14 on lap 9.

Hamilton didn't expect to be able to keep up with Red Bulls and Ferraris in dry conditions, but Fernando Alonso in P3 did a brilliant job by holding up the rest of the pack for him.

Even though the double World Champion's Aston Martin is arguably slower than the four cars right behind him, the 42-year-old was able to utilize his experience to keep Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris until lap 16 (out of 19), when he was finally overtaken.

He had a mighty battle with Carlos Sainz, but unfortunately, he suffered a puncture and had to box. As only the first eight drivers received the points, it didn't make sense for him to continue in the race, and he retired the car.

What is noteworthy is that the triple World Champion built a 13-second gap on the second Hamilton in just ten laps, showcasing his dominant speed ahead of the Grand Prix on Saturday.