Lewis Hamilton's form diluted as the Chinese Grand Prix progressed. Following his pole for the sprint race, and his subsequent sprint win, the pace on his Ferrari seems to have evaporated, and Charles Leclerc who started the weekend on the backfoot, seemed to come alive, particularly so, during the race itself.
Despite losing his left front wing endplate the Monegasque was faster than teammate, Hamilton. Lecerc's blistering pace prompted Ferrari to look into the ever delicate matter of issuing team orders to swap positions as Hamilton seemed to be struggling ahead of the Monegasque.
Leclerc's pace forces team orders at Ferrari
Despite being ordered to make way for Leclerc, Hamilton replied that the Monegasque needed to move closer to him first. So Leclerc did, as he got up in the rearbox of his teammate. On lap 20 the order from the pitwall was unquestionable, and Hamilton had no choice but to make way for Leclerc into Turn 1.
Leclerc currently has a gap of almost 3 seconds on Hamilton and is within DRS range of George Russell's Mercedes in the fight for P3.
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