F1 championship leader in nightmare sprint race at Chinese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Jack Doohan, Red Bull, McLaren, Alpine, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Chinese Grand Prix Sprint

F1 championship leader in nightmare sprint race at Chinese Grand Prix

The first race of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend is underway

By Sam Cook.

Saturday 22 March 2025 04:45

Lando Norris suffered a nightmare sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton took a famous win.

Championship leader Norris tumbled down the order to ninth on the first lap, outside of the point-scoring positions for a sprint race, and could only gain one place before the chequered flag.

The Brit had only qualified in sixth after some mistakes in SQ3, and did not get away well during the sprint race itself.

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This was in complete contrast to fellow countryman Hamilton, who started on pole and got away brilliantly, getting over a second clear of Max Verstappen to break the threat of DRS from the Dutchman.

What happened to Lando Norris in the sprint race?

Norris' season started off brilliantly well, claiming the first grand prix victory of the season in Melbourne to put himself ahead of all of his rivals in the championship.

However, he could only take a single point after being stuck behind Aston Martin's Lance Stroll for much of the race, passing him into the penultimate corner with a few laps to go.

"How can we help? Do you have any pace?", Norris' engineer Will Joseph asked during the sprint race, to which Norris replied: "No, I’m flat out".

Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Lando Norris Aston Martin Chinese Grand Prix