Lewis Hamilton wins Chinese F1 Sprint race for his first Ferrari victory
Shanghai (AP): Lewis Hamilton has won his first race for Ferrari, securing Saturday's Sprint victory from pole position following an early duel Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen at the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Hamilton got a great start to take the lead into turn one, and managed the gap to Verstappen, until the Dutchman was passed for second on lap 15 by McLaren's Oscar Piastri into the back straight's hairpin.
Ferrari's new recruit was then able to stretch his legs all the way to his maiden Sprint win, with the Brit coming home almost 6.9 seconds ahead of Piastri – for eight points (nine overall) and a three-place jump to seventh in the standings.
“The last like five laps or something I was in a really pretty comfortable position. It's hard to put into words what it feels like,” Hamilton said.
“Obviously it's a Sprint race, is not the main race, but even just think to get that – it's just a good stepping stone to where I'm working towards.”
Hamilton is still enjoying every new moment with the Scuderia, despite having secured a record-equaling seven titles and 104 wins, with the Chinese Sprint – and his romp to the win - all about managing the tire wear.
“I got in the car extra early because I just wanted to be present and enjoy it, because I hadn't been there for a while,” he said.
“(I got a) good start and challenging race. It is generally really close between all of us. But the tire degradation today was pretty huge I think for everybody, so I think for me it was just try to manage that early on.”
Hamilton arrived in Shanghai after a disappointing season-opening race last weekend in Australia, where he finished 10th in his debut race for Ferrari.
Piastri was happy to jump Verstappen and take second, but disappointed to not be the one to take the win from pole position – given McLaren's pace advantage.
“(It was) Tough,” Piastri said. “(It was) probably one of the more difficult ones in terms of tire degradation, so I knew I had to try and be patient.”
McLaren eyeing strong qualifying pace The pressure is now on McLaren to recover in Saturday afternoon's qualifying to what it hopes is its rightful place at the front of the grid.
“The difference between qualifying and the race, in terms of what you want from the car and what the tires need, seems to be quite big,” Piastri said.
“I think the pace we had in the car yesterday was good. I think we just in hindsight would have done a few things a bit differently in qualifying. But I think the pace is there and there's plenty of conference going this afternoon.”
Verstappen was again happy to finish in the top three, with the reigning World Champion picking up seven points to take his total haul to 24 – two behind leader, McLaren's Lando Norris, who had a scrappy race to finish eighth.
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UP: Girl kidnapped, raped multiple times over 25 days; accused held
Ballia (UP) (PTI): A man was arrested here for allegedly kidnapping a 17-year-old girl and taking her to Mumbai and Pune, where he raped her multiple times for around 25 days, police said on Saturday.
The accused, Baburam (21) kidnapped the girl on November 14. Based on her father’s complaint, a case was registered against the accused, they said.
Chitbaragaon Station Officer (SO) Dinesh Pathak said the minor was rescued from an area under the police station. She told police that Baburam kidnapped her and had taken her to Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, where he raped her.
Based on her statements, sections related to rape under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act have been added to the case, the officer said.
The accused was arrested the accused on Friday near the Dharmapur intersection, and he was sent to jail after completing the necessary legal formalities, Superintendent of Police Omvir Singh said.
