Shanghai, China (AFP) — Lewis Hamilton said it was “really special” to register his first victory for Ferrari after winning the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday in dominant fashion.

Hamilton had trailed home 10th in Melbourne on his Ferrari debut, but it was a different story six days later in Shanghai.

The seven-time world champion powered to the win from pole position to add a sprint victory to his six grands prix triumphs at the circuit.

The Englishman took the checkered flag 6.889 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.

Hamilton emerged from his car after the finish line to a crescendo of cheers from the massed Shanghai fans, who unfurled huge banners displaying his number 44.

“That is a really, really special weekend so far,” the 40-year-old told reporters.

“China and Shanghai have always been really good to me since my first race here back in 2007. It’s a track that I really do love driving on.”

“It’s hard to put into words what it feels like. Obviously it’s a sprint race, it’s not the main race, but it’s a good stepping stone.”

Hamilton used his vast experience to take advantage of the clean air at the front of the pack and nurse his tires over 19 laps on the newly resurfaced 5.451km Shanghai International circuit.

“I think it is generally pretty close between all of us,” said Hamilton, now in the red Ferrari after his move from Mercedes.

“But the tire degradation today was pretty huge I think for everybody.

“I was just trying to manage that early on and then the last, like, five laps or something, I was in a really comfortable position.”

‘Trying to survive’

Piastri agreed that tires were the biggest issue.

“Probably one of the more difficult ones in terms of tire degradation,” said the Australian.

“So I knew I had to try and be patient.”

Verstappen pressured Hamilton in the first half of the race but suffered later on cooked rubber enabling Piastri to swoop past with four laps to go.

“Unfortunately the last eight laps we didn’t have the pace of the others so I was trying to survive out there,” said Verstappen, who won both the sprint and main race in China last year.

“I definitely take P3. It was tough to manage the tires, but it’s OK, we will try to do better,” added the world champion, who is chasing a fifth consecutive drivers’ crown.

Hamilton’s former teammate at Mercedes, George Russell, was fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth in the other Ferrari.

Yuki Tsunoda in an RB was sixth, Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes was seventh and championship leader Lando Norris, who struggled for pace, took a solitary point in eighth for McLaren.

Norris started sixth but was caught up in traffic on turn five and dropped to ninth, outside the points, as he was passed by Antonelli, Tsunoda and Lance Stroll.

Norris did manage to squeeze back past the Aston Martin of Stroll late on and still leads the early championship on 26 points, from Verstappen on 24.