Chinese GP 2025: Lewis Hamilton hits out at 'yapping' critics

Lewis Hamilton, after securing his first victory for the Ferrari team in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, lashed out at the "chattering" critics. The seven-time world champion, who secured a fifth-place starting position for Sunday's main race in only his second race for the new team, expressed that he was "full of confidence" about achieving a good result. This win provided a significant boost to both Hamilton and the Ferrari team.

Hamilton did not specify who he was referring to, but he stated that these individuals "lack understanding" and do not comprehend how difficult it is to achieve immediate success with a new team. "People love to jump on the bandwagon of negativity at any given opportunity," the 40-year-old driver said. "Even the smallest thing they will jump on negatively. That's just a difficult time that we're in."

Hamilton continued, "I see certain individuals – and I don't look at the news, but I happen to see snippets – and see people that I've admired over the years making comments that are inappropriate. Obviously, some of them just making assumptions without really knowing what's going on, which is a bit disappointing I would say. I heard so much criticism, so many chattering, obviously not understanding. Maybe because they've never been in this position, or maybe because they don't understand."

Ferrari made some adjustments to the car after the sprint race, and other teams also maximized their potential, eventually placing Hamilton and his teammate Charles Leclerc together on the third row. Oscar Piastri snatched pole position from Mercedes' George Russell and McLaren's Lando Norris, who won the race for McLaren in Australia. Verstappen started fourth in the main race, ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc. The starting grid promised an exciting and competitive main race.

Piastri stated that starting from the front row gave him an advantage in the race, which was expected to be dominated by tire management, with all drivers struggling to maintain tire condition. Norris admitted he made too many mistakes in his pursuit of pole position. "We never doubted it was the fastest car," Norris said. "It's just sometimes it can be a little bit tricky to drive. It's still difficult to drive. We easily put in good sectors here and there, but to put the lap together. It seems difficult to understand how to be consistent enough to do that. Oscar did a good job, I didn't do a perfect job. It was tight, so I just paid the price for not doing a good enough job."

Russell, who made significant progress on his final lap, finishing only 0.082 seconds behind pole, said it was "a surprise" to split the two McLarens and ultimately start on the front row. However, he stated that it was "a bit of a stretch" to think he could beat the McLarens in the main race. "We know how quick they are. So, anything above third for anyone at the moment is a massive achievement. I do think they've still got a step on everyone. Ferrari were surprising in the sprint race, but tomorrow's a different story. And we've got the hard tire – no one's run it yet. So I expect a slightly different result." The race promised strategic tire choices and unpredictable outcomes.