Lewis Hamilton’s first victory as a Ferrari driver within the Shanghai Dash is a “significant” early second in F1’s box-office new relationship, in response to Sky Sports activities F1’s Karun Chandhok.
F1’s Dash format – which takes place at six race weekends by way of the 24-race marketing campaign and presents further factors to the top-eight finishers – options its personal qualifying session and short-form 100km race, successfully standing other than the primary Grand Prix which carries the massive factors and historic status.
Hamilton’s lights-to-flag win within the 19-lap Dash in China on Saturday doesn’t although prolong his document of 105 race wins, with the prospect of him doing so on Sunday an extended shot after he went on to qualify for that predominant 56-lap Grand Prix in fifth after a much less eye-catching displaying from Ferrari.
However Sky Sports activities F1 pundit and former driver Chandhok says the Dash triumph carries loads of significance in itself on simply Hamilton’s second weekend driving for Ferrari, which has seen him outpace new team-mate Charles Leclerc for the primary time in all the important thing periods.
“It is a significant day. Ferrari are playing it down, saying it’s only a Sprint, it’s only one day, but it is significant,” Chandhok instructed Sky Sports activities Information.
“It was Lewis Hamilton in a dry race after a dry qualifying, after they have been all on the identical observe on the identical tyres, placing it on pole and successful.
“If it barks like a canine and smells like a canine, it’s a canine – that was a race, and he received it.
“It wasn’t a Grand Prix, it was a third of the distance, but he looked in control. It was the Lewis Hamilton that we’ve all missed for the last three years. Rising to the occasion, getting out in front, breaking the DRS, metronomically rattling off those laps and winning the Sprint.”
‘That is what Ferrari have signed him for’
After celebrating his spectacular Dash win – his first in 19 makes an attempt within the Saturday race since its introduction in 2021 – Hamilton mentioned that “yapping” critics of his disappointing debut weekend with Ferrari in Australia, when he completed tenth within the rain, had made “uneducated guesses” about why that Albert Park race had proved troublesome.
Chandhok added: “I simply thought it was a messy race. Regardless of the actual fact he’s Lewis Hamilton and arguably the best of all time, he’s going to take a few days to mattress in.
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Hamilton was thrilled after successful his first race with Ferrari within the Dash round Shanghai Worldwide Circuit
“I thought there were a couple of interesting things that came out of the Ferrari camp [on Saturday]. One from Lewis himself, saying that in Melbourne he went along with the way Ferrari did things because it was the first weekend and he didn’t want to go in there waving his arms about in terms of changing the way they did things.
“However coming into this weekend, he isn’t waved his arms about however mentioned ‘I need to change a couple of issues we do with the automobile, a few of the path we go together with the set-up, and attempt to discover a candy spot’.
“He talked about catching up with his race engineer, Ricciardo Adami, as early as Monday spending the week getting themselves prepared, getting the car in a sweet spot that they wanted for the one practice session, and they did that.”
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Hamilton led from begin to end
And on the early impression Hamilton is already having on F1’s most-famous workforce, Chandhok added: “This is what Ferrari have done by bringing Lewis to the table.
“They’ve purchased that have and introduced in over 100 grand prix wins and over 100 poles to simply give them just a little little bit of a steer, not reinvent the wheel, and he is there to ship the products on observe.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Chinese GP schedule
Sunday March 23
- 2.40am: F1 Academy Race 2
- 5.30am: Chinese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
- 7am: THE CHINESE GRAND PRIX*
- 9am: Chinese GP reaction: Chequered flag*
- 10am: Ted’s Notebook*
*Also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Shanghai this week for the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
