F1 legend reacts to Lewis Hamilton securing pole position for the F1 Chinese GP Sprint
Former F1 world champion Damon Hill was full of praise for Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton after he secured the fastest time in the sprint qualifying session at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. The British driver looked on pace with the top drivers ever since lap one in the only practice session of the weekend and was more comfortable than his teammate Charles Leclerc with the SF-25 around the Shanghai International Circuit.
The seven-time F1 world champion was the faster Ferrari driver throughout the Sprint qualifying session and eventually finished over two-tenths of a second ahead of the Monegasque driver on the track.
Hamilton was shocked by the result and could not believe it despite getting it confirmed by his race engineer Ricardo Adami. On his Instagram Story, Hill reposted the Ferrari post and gave a short reaction to Hamilton's achievement, saying:
"A new chapter has begun! Awesome."
In his post-run interview, Lewis Hamilton mentioned that he had "no idea" about how he got the fastest time in the Sprint qualifying and said:
"My first sector was really strong, I think that's where I made most of my improvement on that lap. Just little increments through the whole place. There's still time to find which I will make sure I apply to the next qualifying session we go out in. It's amazing to see the number 1 as you stop and to be in the red car is incredible."
The Ferrari driver was followed by his longtime rival Max Verstappen in P2 with McLaren driver Oscar Piastri coming in P3 ahead of Leclerc.
Lewis Hamilton previews his chances of winning the Sprint
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton revealed that he was going into the sprint race as an unknown given that he had not done a long run in dry conditions ever since he joined the Italian team.
As quoted by the aforementioned source, the 40-year-old reflected on his chances and said:
"I didn't do a race run in Bahrain testing, we did the race last weekend in the wet but tomorrow will be my first real long-ish race run, then Sunday my first proper race run in the dry with this car.
"I'm hoping we can hold onto it but I think the McLarens are very fast, as is Max but we are in a good position, we will stay positive and keep our heads high, and keep pushing forward."
Hamilton had finished P2 in the sprint race last year behind Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and had looked comfortable in the dry conditions. However, he and the rest of the grid are going into the 19-lap race with no knowledge of their race pace given that they only had one practice session this weekend.