F1 Chinese GP live commentary and updates – sprint race

On to the business of the day. As various people have mischievously noted – trigger warning! – this is the first time since the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have been alongside each other on the front row of the grid in ‘equal’ machinery.

There, we said it. Let the comments section burn…

Secondly, the brouhaha over Williams and its failure to supply footage from the FIA ‘wing spy’ cameras after practice has been resolved. The statement makes for extraordinary reading. Stand by if you had cheese last night, readers, for you will think you’re in the grip of a cheese dream.

Essentially it was an IT fail. The teams who run these cameras during practice are picked at random. Williams did not know it had to supply its own SD cars to fit in the cameras.

The FIA document notes that the team saw a red light on the cameras during the session and “did not know what it meant”. This was reported to technical delegate Jo Bauer by email. By then it was too late to fit an SD card anyway, even if there were a convenient branch of PC World nearby.

“There was no suggestion that the wings were not in compliance with the bodywork flexibility requirements,” noted the FIA. 

The team has been fined €50,000 – €40,000 of which has been suspended until 31 December.

Read the manual next time, bozos!

And we kick off with two pieces of news. Firstly Nico Hulkenberg will start the sprint race from the pitlane because the team worked on his car in parc ferme. It was a setup change.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you are. Welcome to live text coverage of the sprint race from the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend.