Ferrari<\/a> last year. The car was off the pace and the seven-time world champion was also having to adapt to his new team. With a series of poor results and some of the worst qualifying sessions of his career he bemoaned it as a \u201cnightmare\u201d season and by its close appeared adrift and disconsolate.<\/p>\nA major reset occurred during the winter and it has paid off, with Hamilton showing the verve and pace of old, alongside Ferrari having a car that is far more competitive and better suited to Hamilton\u2019s driving style.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started this voyage and this dream of moving to Ferrari and being on the top step with them, and this podium has taken longer than I had hoped,\u201d he added. \u201cAfter a difficult year, to be able to be a part of developing with them, working with them over the past year, gives me huge pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think there\u2019s more to come. I think I can still eke out more performance from this car. I\u2019m still learning about it as I go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen has said the new F1 regulations make the sport feel like \u2018playing Mario Kart\u2019. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The British driver also weighed in on the controversial debate about the new regulations. The four-time champion Max Verstappen, who had to retire from the race in China with an energy recovery system cooling issue, had delivered a vituperative broadside after the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s terrible. If someone likes this, then you really don\u2019t know what racing is like,\u201d said Verstappen. \u201cNot fun at all. Playing Mario Kart. This is not racing and I would say the same if I [were] winning races, because I care about the racing product. It\u2019s not about being upset with where I am.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s what the real F1 fans like,\u201d Verstappen added. \u201cMaybe some fans like it but they don\u2019t understand racing. Hopefully we can get rid of this as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quick GuideF1 Chinese GP: result and overall standingsShow<\/p>\n
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli (It) Mercedes<\/p>\n
2 George Russell (GB) Mercedes at 5.52sec<\/p>\n
3 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Ferrari at 25.27s<\/p>\n
4 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari at 28.89s<\/p>\n
5 Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas at 57.27s<\/p>\n
6 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Alpine at 59.65s<\/p>\n
7 Liam Lawson (NZ) RacingBulls at 1m 20.59s<\/p>\n
8 Isack Hadjar (Fr) Red Bull at 1:27.25<\/p>\n
9 Carlos Sainz (Sp) Williams at 1 lap<\/p>\n
10 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Alpine at 1 lap<\/p>\n
11 Nico H\u00fclkenberg (Ger) Audi at 1 lap<\/p>\n
12 Arvid Lindblad (GB) RacingBulls at 1 lap<\/p>\n
13 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Cadillac at 1 lap<\/p>\n
14 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Haas at 1 lap<\/p>\n
15 Sergio P\u00e9rez (Mex) Cadillac at 1 lap<\/p>\n
Not Classified: Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull, Fernando Alonso (Sp) Aston Martin, Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin.<\/p>\n
DNS: Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren, Lando Norris (GB) McLaren, Gabriel Bortoleto (Bra) Audi, Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams.<\/p>\n
World drivers’ championship standings<\/p>\n
1 George Russell (GB) 51pts<\/p>\n
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli (It) 47<\/p>\n
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) 34<\/p>\n
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) 33<\/p>\n
5 Oliver Bearman (GB) 17<\/p>\n
6 Lando Norris (GB) 15<\/p>\n
7 Pierre Gasly (Fr) 9<\/p>\n
8 Max Verstappen (Neth) 8<\/p>\n
9 Liam Lawson (NZ) 8<\/p>\n
10 Arvid Lindblad (GB) 4<\/p>\n
Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n
In stark contrast, Hamilton believes the new formula is working well. Fans in Shanghai appeared to agree, given their enthusiastic response to the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the best racing I\u2019ve ever experienced in Formula One,\u201d he said. \u201cThe cars are easier to follow, much better than past years. You can get very close, there\u2019s not a bad wake where you\u2019re losing too much downforce.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully it was an exciting race to watch because it was awesome in the car. It felt like go-karting, back and forth and you could really position your car in a nice way where there was a thin piece of paper between us sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton said he is \u201cback to his best\u201d after he finished third at the Chinese Grand Prix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-539247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}