Hamilton overjoyed with lead: 'Had forgotten how it felt'

Lewis Hamilton had almost forgotten what it was like to drive in the lead of the race. The Briton did realise he needed some luck to achieve the result he did in China.

After a good start, Hamilton drove into the lead of a Formula 1 race for the first time in a long time. It eventually took nine laps before Max Verstappen came to spoil that party. Nevertheless, the Briton enjoyed it immensely and learned much from it.

Hamilton happy with leading the race

"I forgot what it felt like to be up ahead, and it felt good for the short while that I had it but I was grateful for the moment. Really fortunate with the rain yesterday. We capitalised on that. Our out-and-out true pace was not strong enough to qualify up as high as that, but I made the most of it with a great start," Hamilton said during the press conference.

"Just managed to hold off Fernando for a while and bridged a bit of a gap, but lots of deg today. I've found out a lot about the car today, not that it's telling us how to fix it, but at least it gives us lots of direction and things we need to improve. We can make a few changes in the next couple of hours, so I will try and improve the car for qualifying today, but so happy to be here and really grateful," Hamilton concluded.