Ferrari, Hamilton ‘Above All Relieved’ In China

Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton, are back.

“We didn’t expect it at all,” long-time development driver and ambassador Marc Gene told DAZN after witnessing Hamilton win the sprint race from pole in Shanghai.

“I wouldn’t have bet a single euro of my own money on it,” he smiled.

Indeed, Hamilton trailed teammate Charles Leclerc in Australia, but even more alarming for the Maranello based team was its struggle merely to score minor points.

Gene was asked if the turnaround in China so far made him happy.

“Happy, yes, but above all relieved,” said the Spaniard. “There was still some doubt about whether what happened in Australia was real.

“Where better to disprove that than on a track as demanding as Shanghai?” Gene continued. “And with such high temperatures, which is what we’re going to find more often this year.”

Gene was also asked if he thinks Hamilton, 40, will be relived to sweep away all the noise and doubters.

“I’d say Ferrari is more relieved,” Gene said. “Lewis was already relieved in Australia, when he qualified a tenth behind Charles, because he saw he was getting close to the pace.

“This was fundamental for Ferrari. We’re a team where the good and the bad are magnified so much, so there was a lot of pressure in Maranello, on the engineers, on the mechanics.”

In the Shanghai sprint, Hamilton cruised to victory from pole, while McLaren and Red Bull struggled with tyre wear. Lando Norris’ championship lead over Max Verstappen shrank to just 2 points, with the McLaren suffering a dire sprint.

“Well, the result doesn’t mean that we were at the bottom before and now we are suddenly at the top again,” cautioned Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur. It’s just very close at the top.

“Sometimes McLaren has a huge advantage and sometimes not, so now we analyse the data.”

Norris said he knew weeks ago that, while fast, his McLaren is particularly difficult to drive. “We had the problem in the Bahrain test, just not as severe,” he said.

Teammate Oscar Piastri agreed: “Our car is difficult to control in the wind.”

When asked if Verstappen may be able to finish better than third in the main Chinese GP, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko told Osterreich: “I hope so.

“But something has to happen for that to happen. As soon as our tyres wear out, McLaren is a second faster.

“We are currently experiencing incredibly high tyre wear over the course of a full race.”

Mercedes’ George Russell caused a stir earlier this weekend by declaring that McLaren’s real advantage is bigger than anything ever enjoyed by Red Bull.

“He’s right,” Marko said. “They also bluff as much as they can. McLaren is clearly superior.”