'I struggle on this track' - Charles Leclerc reacts to Lewis Hamilton winning Chinese GP sprint

Lewis Hamilton won his first official race for the Ferrari team eventhough it was a Sprint race. The seven-time world champion was outstanding at his favourite Formula 1 race track in Shanghai where he won six times before, which is the most by any driver since its inception in 2004.

Hamilton was the fastest on sprint qualifying as he outpaced his teammate Charles Leclerc and his old rival Max Verstappen. But what’s interesting is that Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, Charles Leclerc was nowhere near the pace compared with the rest of the front grid. 

'Blame me'- Charles Leclerc after Chinese GP.

On the Opening lap of the Sprint race, he lost his race position to McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and then to Mercedes driver George Russell in the later stages. He did fight back but couldn’t gain any positions and was P5 after the sprint race. Leclerc spoke about his average Sprint race at the F1 chinese grand prix and to everyone’s surprise he blamed himself for the poor performance. The Monegasque driver said “I wouldn't blame the car because Lewis is doing a great job with it. For me it's me.”

He added, “Until now I have not been comfortable with the car as it is, I took a slightly different direction compared to Lewis in terms of setup but I don‘t think it‘s all in there. I just really struggle on this track. It‘s not an excuse, I need to react and quali would be a good start to turn things around.” Even last year Leclerc finished P4 in both Sprint and main race at the F1 chinese grand prix. 

We still have qualifiers and races this weekend and let’s see whether Charles leclerc can turn things around quickly and get ahead of his teammate. The Qualifying will be today followed by the main race tomorrow. Last year’s race winner Max Verstappen and his team Red Bull plan to change the setup to reduce the tyre wear. They wanted to give their absolute best in the Qualifying session. The Red Bull team doesn't want to fight in the back end as it will increase the tyre wear.

Also Read: F1 2025 Chinese GP Sprint Race Results: Lewis Hamilton wins it for Ferrari.