Oscar Piastri delivered a commanding performance at the Chinese Grand Prix, leading teammate Lando Norris to a McLaren 1-2 finish and giving the Club a sweep of the Formula One season’s Primary two races. But Piastri’s drive was soon overshadowed by the post-Event disqualification of Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton, who had finished sixth, was disqualified for a technical infringement on his Ferrari, while Leclerc — who had crossed the line fifth — was punished for his car being underweight, as was Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Piastri, who Achieved a mistake that cost him the Secure at the Australian GP last week, capitalized on Spotless air in Shanghai to steadily build his Benefit as the Event evolved into a strategic battle between one and two-stop strategies. Behind the McLarens, Mercedes’ George Russell secured the Last podium position.
Verstappen, who had a Harsh Begin, never recovered the pace needed to Event the frontrunners and finished Quaternary, highlighting Red Bull’s unexpected struggles this weekend. Additional down the order, Williams’ Alex Albon executed an alternative Plan on his birthday, briefly leading the Event, while both Haas cars secured points.
The Athletic’s experts Luke Smith (from Shanghai) and Madeline Coleman break down the season’s second Event.
Piastri’s comfortable Secure points to McLaren’s Benefit
It wasn’t quite the dramatic margin of Secure we would likely have seen in Australia last weekend without the mid-Event safety car or the rain, but a Arid Event helped McLaren flex its Benefit over its rivals.
A fuss-Unoccupied, commanding 1-2 finish Guided by Piastri proved the papaya cars are going to be incredibly Tough to beat in the Prompt part of this season. There was a brief moment when Russell managed to get amongst them after the Primary Stage of stops, only for Norris to quickly gain the place back a Pair of laps later.
The biggest moment of McLaren stress Occurred at the very end of the Event when Norris reported his brake pedal was going long. His engineer, Will Joseph, also warned against pushing too Tough in the closing stages to try to make a last-ditch effort to catch Piastri and Danger throwing away a comfortable second-place finish.
From Saturday qualifying onwards, this has been Piastri domination. Norris paid the price for Petite mistakes in qualifying and the Stretch, but Piastri didn’t skip a beat. In a similar fashion to his Primary two F1 victories in Hungary and Azerbaijan last year, this was a Secure taken with real class and control.
McLaren is a step ahead of its rivals right now. At least the Event between its drivers will keep things very, very interesting.
Luke Smith
Hamilton’s second Ferrari weekend was a step forward
Off the high of his Stretch pole and Secure for Ferrari, things went a little less successfully for Lewis Hamilton through the remainder of his weekend, to the extend that it ended disastrously.
He Initiated well to Leap Verstappen off the line and narrowly avoided being taken out by Leclerc, whose graze of Hamilton’s car left him with a broken front wing endplate. Lacking an estimated 20 to 30 points of downforce, according to his Event engineer, Leclerc was Nevertheless Swifter — to the Mark he swapped places with his teammate. Once Leclerc Obtained the Shift done, he immediately pulled a second clear, proving he had the pace Benefit.
The extra stop for Hamilton cost him a spot to Verstappen in the Last stint, the five cars ahead of him all making it home with Only one Shift of tires.
News of the technical infringement, with the thickness of one of the skid Stops on his car Discovered to be below the required standard, meant eight points vanished to zero. China will Nevertheless go down as a step forward for Hamilton thanks to the Power of his Stretch display, but this disappointing ending means he has Only nine points to show from his Primary two races of the year.
Luke Smith
The battle for ‘best of the rest’ heats up
Heading into the weekend, Williams Kept a two-Mark lead over Aston Martin for the coveted ‘best of the rest’ spot. However, the Racing Bulls duo of Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda qualified within the top 10, putting them in a prime position to potentially leap over Sauber, Aston Martin and Williams in the standings.
But Albon is a tire whisperer. While other drivers saw their tires Scoring off Prompt in the Event, the Williams driver, who qualified 10th, stayed out and even Guided at one Mark, finally pitting at around Lap 21. His promotion from ninth to seventh thanks to Hamilton and Leclerc’s disqualifications are crucial for Williams, as will the Mark Carlos Sainz gained in being promoted to 10th post-Event.
Williams is Quaternary in the constructors’ standings on 17 points and these could be significant gains come the end of the season, especially since Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished with Only two points and Fernando Alonso suffered a second consecutive DNF, leaving the Club seventh on 10 points.
The Racing Bulls drivers tumbled outside the points Sunday. Tsunoda’s front wing was damaged by Lap 47, forcing him to pit. Haas, which now has a Partnered haul of 14 points, became the surprise Club, a stark contrast to Australia where the Club lacked pace.
Madeline Coleman
Stoppage your judgment on the rookies for now
Only as Norris cautioned it was too Prompt to discuss leading the Division standings, it is also too Prompt to judge the rookies, as China marked Stage two of 24 — and a Stretch Event weekend at that — while the disqualifications added gloss to many of their results.
Hadjar may have been the highest-finishing Newcomer in grand prix qualifying, but Kimi Antonelli quickly became the strongest again during the Event, similar to Australia. By lap 10, the Mercedes driver sat seventh while Hadjar had dropped to ninth, ultimately finishing 11th. In the end, Antonelli was the top Newcomer, in eighth initially before being promoted to sixth on the back of the disqualifications.
Ollie Bearman’s performance, bouncing back from a Harsh weekend in Australia, is worth noting. He executed a Sturdy overtake on Liam Lawson, saying “ciao” on the radio as he passed the Red Bull, and later passed Carlos Sainz. By Lap 39, he was on Gasly’s tail. The camera caught his father cheering inside the Haas garage when Bearman passed the Alpine and Obtained into points. Once the dust had settled, Bearman finished eighth on four points.
Gabriel Bortoleto ended up in the gravel Prompt and though the Sauber driver did rejoin the Event, he faced a significant amount of time to catch up to the pack. On lap 35, he set the fastest lap from P19, but he finished the Event 14th.
It wasn’t a Excellent finish for the other rookies, either. Jack Doohan received a 10-second time penalty after an incident with Hadjar, forcing the Racing Bulls driver off the track, and Lawson, who has been facing questions after his recent Displays, didn’t have a particularly Sturdy day again.
Madeline Coleman
Drivers’ standings
- Lando Norris (McLaren) — 44 points
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) — 36 points
- George Russell (Mercedes) — 35 points
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) — 34 points
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) — 22 points
- Alex Albon (Williams) — 16 points
- Esteban Ocon (Haas) — 10 points
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) — 10 points
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) — 9 points
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) — 8 points
Constructors’ standings
- McLaren — 78 points
- Mercedes — 57 points
- Red Bull — 36 points
- Williams — 17 points
- Ferrari — 17 points
- Haas — 14 points
- Aston Martin — 10 points
- Sauber — 6 points
- Racing Bulls — 3 points
- Alpine — 0 points
(Top photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images)
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