What Lewis Hamilton did immediately after F1 sprint qualifying speaks volumes

Lewis Hamilton's actions following sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix have caught everyone's attention.

It was another Mercedes front-row-lockout in Shanghai for the first sprint qualifying session of the year, with George Russell once again leading Kimi Antonelli.

Despite impressing in the race in Australia, it was another disappointing qualifying for Ferrari who line up fourth and sixth for Saturday's sprint.

Lewis Hamilton will be the lead Ferrari on the grid for just the eighth time since joining last season, after teammate Charles Leclerc reported battery issues on his final qualifying lap.

The Brit will have a McLaren either side of him, but will be hoping to capitalise on the Scuderia's lightning starts to challenge the Mercedes out front.

Although Ferrari and McLaren seemed extremely close in performance, Mercedes were once again significantly faster than the competition with Russell sixth tenths clear of third placed Lando Norris.

Following the final session, Hamilton was seen inspecting the Mercedes car from every angle as it was wheeled back into the garage, seemingly attempting to grasp where the time was lost.

In Melbourne, the data showed Leclerc's Ferrari was the fastest through the corners with Mercedes gaining time on the straights, and Hamilton seemed to confirm a similar story following his inspection of the Mercedes.

“The car generally felt great," Hamilton told the media after sprint qualifying.

"It’s just that we, I think we’re losing it on the straights, and that’s a lot of time to be losing so we have a lot of work to do.

Nothing to see here! 👀

Just Inspector Hamilton taking a peep at the Mercedes 🧐#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/WqfR9t7Sp6

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 13, 2026

"We really have to push so hard back at Maranello to improve on power."

The 41-year-old admitted he was extremely concerned with the Mercedes power-unit in Melbourne, and called for the FIA to take action amid the ongoing compression-ratio saga.

“I don’t understand it exactly,” Hamilton said when asked on the Mercedes advantage last week.

“Yeah, they didn’t show that they could turn it up in testing, and now they’ve got this extra power from somewhere, and we need to understand what that is.

“But if it is a compression thing, then I will be disappointed that the FIA allowed that to be the case," he added.