Hamilton’s first Ferrari podium

Lewis Hamilton finished third for Ferrari at the Chinese Grand Prix on March 15, giving him his first Sunday podium since joining the team at the start of 2025. (formula1.com) The official Formula 1 result from Shanghai put Hamilton 25.267 seconds behind winner Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes and 3.627 seconds ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth after 56 laps. (formula1.com) Hamilton started third, took the lead at the start, then lost out to Antonelli and later George Russell before spending much of the race fighting Leclerc for the final podium place. Formula 1 said the Ferrari pair traded blows in several wheel-to-wheel moments before Hamilton held on for third. (formula1.com) Ferrari’s own race report said both cars pitted for hard tires on lap 10 under a Safety Car after Lance Stroll stopped on track, turning the race into a long final stint. The team said Hamilton and Leclerc changed places “almost a dozen times” before Hamilton crossed the line about three and a half seconds ahead. (ferrari.com) The result mattered because Hamilton’s first season in red did not produce a Grand Prix podium, and Sky Sports said Shanghai was his 26th race weekend start for Ferrari before he finally reached the top three on Sunday. Sky also said it was his first Formula 1 podium of any kind since Las Vegas in November 2024, when he was still driving for Mercedes. (skysports.com) Ferrari arrived in China looking more competitive under Formula 1’s 2026 rules than it had been a year earlier. Two days before the race, Leclerc said Ferrari’s race pace in the Sprint was “similar to Mercedes,” and Hamilton said the new car was “much better” than the 2025 version. (formula1.com) That pace showed up across the weekend, not just on Sunday. Ferrari said Hamilton’s third place in the Grand Prix, added to the previous day’s Sprint result, left the team second in the Constructors’ standings with 40 points after China. (ferrari.com) Hamilton framed the podium as evidence that Ferrari had moved closer to the front without pretending the gap had disappeared. He said after the race that Mercedes were “really pulling ahead at the moment,” while Ferrari had “a great platform to work off.” (formula1.com) Leclerc did not dispute Hamilton’s edge in Shanghai. Ferrari quoted Leclerc saying Hamilton “was strong all weekend,” while Hamilton called the duel “hard but fair” and thanked the team in Maranello for helping put Ferrari in that position. (ferrari.com) So the China result did not put Ferrari ahead of Mercedes, but it did give Hamilton the first Grand Prix podium of his Ferrari stint and a concrete marker after a difficult 2025. The next test came two weeks later at Suzuka, where Ferrari said the Japanese Grand Prix would offer a clearer read on the pecking order. (ferrari.com)