"Rome wasn't built in a day," claims Hamilton after emotional maiden Ferrari victory

Having secured a historic first Ferrari win with thrilling triumph at the F1 China GP 2025 sprint race, Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he did not feel any pressure in the 19-lap dash as he knows that Ferrari desperately "wants to win."

Having secured his first pole position with Ferrari in yesterday's sprint qualifying, seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton took a dominant victory with the Scuderia in the Shanghai F1 Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Reflecting on his maiden sprint victory with the Maranello-based outfit, Hamilton has revealed that while he did not feel comfortable in his car at last weekend's Australian Grand Prix, he has felt more confident in the SF-25 at the Shanghai International Circuit.

"I woke up feeling great today, the weather is beautiful and we have this amazing crowd. The [Sprint] was difficult, I think people underestimate the steep climb is it to get into a new team, understand a new team.

"So it is great to come here and feel more comfortable in the car as in Melbourne, I really didn't feel comfortable in the car.

"It felt great today, I got a good start. I don't feel the pressure, I know the team wants to win and it means everything to them. Rome wasn't built in a day, so one day at a time," said the seven-time F1 champion.

While Hamilton won the Shanghai Sprint in dominant fashion, Max Verstappen, who started from P2 on the grid, was passed for second on lap 15 by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri into the back straight’s hairpin.

Assessing his race, the Australian has conceded that while McLaren did not have the pace to challenge Hamilton and Ferrari for the victory, the Woking-based outfit will make some tweaks to the car in order to take on the fight against the Scuderia in the remainder of the weekend.

"I think it was a really productive Sprint. Second is a good result and we learned a lot. The way I got the result is an encouraging thing. We didn't quite have enough pace for Lewis out front, but we have some good ideas for later and tomorrow.

"I think we have good pace in the car, but the Ferraris look pretty rapid," concluded the Melbourne-born driver.

While Verstappen appeared to have the pace to challenge Ferrari for the sprint victory in the opening stages of the 19-lap dash, the reigning champion conceded that he wanted to "survive" after his tyres suffered heavy degradation.

"I think it is positive, I tried to give it a go but unfortunately, the last eight laps we just didn't have the pace to the others. Just trying to survive out there, I'll take P3 as the others were catching up.

"It's okay, we'll try to make it better, look into the date but in general we just lack some overall pace," noted the Dutchman.