Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
George Russell has held off the fast-starting Ferraris to win the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race for Mercedes and extend his Formula One championship lead as Australia’s Oscar Piastri finished sixth.
The Briton started on pole position at the Shanghai International Circuit and finished ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton after a late safety car period in Saturday’s 19-lap race.
Russell won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last weekend in a Mercedes one-two.
Leclerc finished 0.674 seconds behind Russell on Saturday after an earlier battle with Hamilton, as Ferrari had two cars in the top three of a Formula One race of any sort for the first time since the end of 2024.
Hamilton and Russell battled for the lead early on with four changes of lead in the opening five laps before the Mercedes driver made a move that stuck and secured the eight points available for a sprint win.
McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris finished fourth with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli fifth after serving a 10-second penalty for a clash with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar on the opening lap.
After crashing and failing to make the start in his home grand prix last weekend, Piastri was sixth for McLaren with New Zealander Liam Lawson seventh for Racing Bulls and Oliver Bearman taking the final point for Haas.
Russell now has 33 points with Antonelli and Leclerc tied on 22 and Hamilton on 18.
