168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton has hailed Mercedes’ “huge improvement” after he secured second in the China sprint race - his best result of the 2024 F1 season.

Hamilton took the race lead on the opening lap of the sprint away from 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris after an aggressive start which saw t𝓀he McL🅷aren driver go wide.

The seven-time world champion controlled the race from the front, extending his lead over 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fernando Alonso to over two seconds.

Inevitably, 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen cut his way through, before overt🦄aking Hamilton on Lap 9.

Hamilton’s pace was still good enough from that point onwards to secure second - adding seven points to his championsh♔ip tally.

“That’s the best result I’ve had in a long time,” he said after the sprint. “Of course, I am super, super happy, and grateful. We couldn’t 🌟fight the Red Bulls today. This is a huge step.

“A huge improvement. At least, with the rain, that really helped naturally. The race was tough. If I was further back I♌ would have struggled perhaps to progress. I found out a lot about the car through this short stint for the race. I am excited for tomorrow.”

For the first time in F1 history, the drivers will take to th💃e track again for qualifying - just three hours after racing in the sprint.

With the forecast set to be dry, Hamilton isn’t hopeful of replicating his sprint qualifying heroics, conceding a number of teams are simply quicker over o🅠n꧂e lap.

“I still think we’re still not as quick on a single lap as the Ferrar♑is, Red Bulls,” he added. “I think the McLarens are ahead of us for sure and possibly the Astons. We’re probably close to the Astons but we wiꦚll see today. I don’t anticipate we will be fighting for the front row.

“The fortunate thi🦩ng is that we can makജe some adjustments so hopefully I can improve the car in the next three hours and have a better qualifying session than we have had in the past.”