After claiming Red Bull’s 100th pole position on Saturday, Verstappen was never threatened throughout the first race in Shanghai since 2019 and effortlessly overcame two safety car restarts midway through the race.
After leading the field with no real threat from behind, Verstappen opened a gap of 1.6 seconds at the end of the first lap on the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, who had opened his race with a sumptuous move around the outside from Perez in the first corner.
Verstappen’s usual break-build that contemporary F1 fans have come to expect was eventually wiped out by a safety car on lap 20 of 56, as the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas stopped at Turn 11 with a gear problem. engine – which caused a possible virtual crash. safety car before the emergence of the Mercedes-AMG GT.
On the restart, a punt on Yuki Tsunoda from Kevin Magnussen put the Japanese driver out of the race, prompting another safety car period to delay any progress Verstappen was able to make.
Tasked with leading the field on both restarts, Verstappen opened the throttle on the exit of Turn 14 to maintain his position and, when the second safety car period ended on lap 32, he resumed his advance into the lead.
He now led from Norris, who made his only stop of the race under the virtual safety car, and Red Bull’s decision to place Verstappen and Perez under the full safety car a few laps later allowed the Briton to exit in second position. .
Initially keeping Verstappen in his sights, Norris was unable to maintain the same level of pace as leader Red Bull and instead focused on preserving second place ahead of Perez – who also dropped behind Charles Leclerc after his pit stop.
Thus, Verstappen maintained his pace level and crossed the finish line 13.7 seconds ahead of Norris.
The McLaren driver produced a skillfully managed second stint despite his team’s reservations about his pace in China, while Pérez was unable to make any real progress; at the checkered flag, the gap between the other podium finishers was 5.3 seconds.
Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth after finding a way to make a one-stop shop – designated Plan D by radio – work; although Leclerc was able to extend his first stint and managed to stop under the VSC on lap 21, Sainz had stopped four laps before and had a tougher job dragging his efforts on the hard tires to the end.
Sainz was also able to withstand a brief period of pressure from George Russell, who looked almost certain to catch the Ferrari driver until eventually having to drop back to save his own tires, retaining sixth place.
Both men had gained a position when Alonso made a late stop as Aston Martin gambled on a set of soft tires during the safety car.
This gave Alonso the momentum to move up to fifth, having lost positions following a lap 11 stop and ceding track position to those who benefited from the car’s period of safety to carry out scheduled shutdowns.
But Alonso had to return to the pits as the softs failed to finish, and so switched to mediums for the final 12 laps; he fell out of the top 10, but put together a series of moves to take advantage of those on worn hard tires to place seventh.
Oscar Piastri held off Lewis Hamilton for eighth place despite damage to his diffuser; on the first safety car restart, Alonso went under braking and forced Russell and Piastri to check.
Daniel Ricciardo then elbowed the back of his compatriot’s car, but was in turn hit by Lance Stroll. The resulting damage to the diffuser caused Ricciardo to retire.
Nico Hulkenberg took the final point following the fight, finishing 2.3 seconds ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to secure a vital point for the Haas team.
Chinese GP F1 – Race results:
After claiming Red Bull’s 100th pole position on Saturday, Verstappen was never threatened throughout the first race in Shanghai since 2019 and effortlessly overcame two safety car restarts midway through the race.
After leading the field with no real threat from behind, Verstappen opened a gap of 1.6 seconds at the end of the first lap on the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, who had opened his race with a sumptuous move around the outside from Perez in the first corner.
Verstappen’s usual break-build that contemporary F1 fans have come to expect was eventually wiped out by a safety car on lap 20 of 56, as the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas stopped at Turn 11 with a gear problem. engine – which caused a possible virtual crash. safety car before the emergence of the Mercedes-AMG GT.
On the restart, a punt on Yuki Tsunoda from Kevin Magnussen put the Japanese driver out of the race, prompting another safety car period to delay any progress Verstappen was able to make.
Tasked with leading the field on both restarts, Verstappen opened the throttle on the exit of Turn 14 to maintain his position and, when the second safety car period ended on lap 32, he resumed his advance into the lead.
He now led from Norris, who made his only stop of the race under the virtual safety car, and Red Bull’s decision to place Verstappen and Perez under the full safety car a few laps later allowed the Briton to exit in second position. .
Initially keeping Verstappen in his sights, Norris was unable to maintain the same level of pace as leader Red Bull and instead focused on preserving second place ahead of Perez – who also dropped behind Charles Leclerc after his pit stop.
Thus, Verstappen maintained his pace level and crossed the finish line 13.7 seconds ahead of Norris.
The McLaren driver produced a skillfully managed second stint despite his team’s reservations about his pace in China, while Pérez was unable to make any real progress; at the checkered flag, the gap between the other podium finishers was 5.3 seconds.
Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth after finding a way to make a one-stop shop – designated Plan D by radio – work; although Leclerc was able to extend his first stint and managed to stop under the VSC on lap 21, Sainz had stopped four laps before and had a tougher job dragging his efforts on the hard tires to the end.
Sainz was also able to withstand a brief period of pressure from George Russell, who looked almost certain to catch the Ferrari driver until eventually having to drop back to save his own tires, retaining sixth place.
Both men had gained a position when Alonso made a late stop as Aston Martin gambled on a set of soft tires during the safety car.
This gave Alonso the momentum to move up to fifth, having lost positions following a lap 11 stop and ceding track position to those who benefited from the car’s period of safety to carry out scheduled shutdowns.
But Alonso had to return to the pits as the softs failed to finish, and so switched to mediums for the final 12 laps; he fell out of the top 10, but put together a series of moves to take advantage of those on worn hard tires to place seventh.
Oscar Piastri held off Lewis Hamilton for eighth place despite damage to his diffuser; on the first safety car restart, Alonso went under braking and forced Russell and Piastri to check.
Daniel Ricciardo then elbowed the back of his compatriot’s car, but was in turn hit by Lance Stroll. The resulting damage to the diffuser caused Ricciardo to retire.
Nico Hulkenberg took the final point following the fight, finishing 2.3 seconds ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to secure a vital point for the Haas team.