Max Verstappen, continuing his dominance in Formula One, took Saturday’s first sprint race of the season - the prelude to the full-blown Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes on the ninth of 19 laps and then stretched out his lead to win by 13sec ahead of Hamilton. Sergio Perez of Red Bull was third and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth.
Red Bull’s Verstappen is the three-time defending F1 champion and is almost unbeatable in any format.
He will be the favourite to win Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, which is the fifth race of the season. Verstappen has won three of the first four GP races and 22 of the last 26.
Lando Norris of McLaren and Hamilton of Mercedes started on the front row with Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Verstappen on the second row.