After dominating both sprint qualifying and the sprint race in China, new Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton sounded a bit perplexed about where his pace had gone when it came time to qualify for the Grand Prix. 

Starting from fifth, just one place ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton quipped that he’ll be working on a ‘masterplan’ to help him on race day.

Lewis Hamilton’s China GP ‘masterplan’

As the second race of the season, the first sprint of the year, and the first back-to-back of 2025, the Chinese Grand Prix was sure to pose plenty of problems for the Formula 1 contingent.

Teams caught out in Australia — such as Ferrari — would have far less practice time thanks to the sprint format, which meant many pundits expected the McLarens to be the pace of the field.

While that was certainly the case in qualifying for the Grand Prix — Oscar Piastri took pole, with Lando Norris in third — the earlier parts of the weekend painted a much different picture.

In fact, it was Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari who emerged at the front of the field in sprint qualifying, and who managed to win the sprint race with a commanding seven-second lead over the competition.

But his pace in qualifying for the Grand Prix was… a little less impressive. Hamilton will start from fifth on the grid, with teammate Charles Leclerc lining up alongside him in sixth. The scarlet machines seemed to lose its previous pace — but Hamilton had an explanation.

More analysis from the Chinese Grand Prix:

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Speaking to media after qualifying, Hamilton explained that “we made a couple of changes to the car to rectify some of the problems we had, and I don’t know if it is the wind, but the car became quite snappy.

“The changes were to improve race performance, but it was definitely harder on the single lap, so it is going to be interesting.”

With a bit of a Grand Prix teaser in the sprint race, it was clear that China is going to be a demanding circuit on the tires, which is something Hamilton acknowledged when discussing his plan for Sunday.

“How you use the tyres is going to be key, but I feel optimistic for tomorrow, I’ll try to get a good start and jump at least one car and slowly make my way up,” he said.

“Tonight, I am just going to make a masterplan of how to win and I’m going to try and execute it, that’s the mindset I have.”

His ‘masterplan’ quip came with a laugh, showing that Hamilton is still able to find some humor in his challenges thus far.

As far as his Ferrari debut has gone, he concluded, “There are going to be swings and roundabouts, right? There are going to be ups and downs, and we didn’t expect to be fifth and sixth, or I didn’t expect to be where I am, but it’s what we are going to be faced with through the season.

“So we’ve just got to try and stay calm.”

Read next: Unveiled: How the F1 development race evolved at the Chinese Grand Prix