Max Verstappen dominated once again, having hinted at his clear pace advantage in Saturday’s sprint race, but it didn’t go Red Bull’s way as Sergio Perez was edged out in the stops.
Neither team was able to enjoy a mistake-free day as both safety cars put decision-making under a microscope, but it certainly helped ensure China’s return to the schedule was not a one-dimensional affair .
1. Red Bull
Miles faster than anyone else, as evidenced by a) Verstappen’s sprint victory from fourth on the grid, and b) his seemingly effortless victory in the grand prix. Good traction allowed him to press the accelerator on the exit of Turn 14 each time to maintain his lead during the safety car restarts, and to have the pace in hand to make a two-man strategy work stops without much loss of time. .
Perez certainly drew the short straw in terms of strategy and fell behind Norris and Charles Leclerc after his second stop, but, if he had not been so far behind Verstappen, the double stack could have given the Mexican a second happier time.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Citing the plethora of low-speed corners and long-radius corners, McLaren anticipated a struggle in China – “damage limitation”, as team principal Andrea Stella called it. But Norris and McLaren put together an incredibly strong race to secure second place; although it looked like the team might have missed the mark by stopping Norris under the virtual safety car, the delay in removing Valtteri Bottas’ blocked Sauber offered a second bite at the cherry.
When Red Bull stopped again, it gave Norris second place in the order. Crucially, his race pace was slightly faster than Perez’s, allowing him to maintain a five-second gap on third place to secure a surprise podium.
Oscar Piastri initially struggled compared to Norris and was unable to keep tabs on his more experienced teammate, but did an admirable job of keeping Lewis Hamilton behind despite the diffuser damage suffered during traffic congestion. first reboot.
It wasn’t the performance most expected from Ferrari, but that’s not the team’s fault; the expected graining of the front tires was not present in Shanghai and therefore did not have a slight advantage to exploit. Regardless, both drivers managed to make a one-stop strategy work despite suggestions of slower pace in the latter stages of the race.
Leclerc defended well against Perez after the safety car periods but ultimately didn’t have the pace in reserve to stifle the Red Bull driver for too long. For his part, Sainz had a more precarious job to do managing his hard tires over a 38-lap stint but kept enough life in them to claim a well-worked fifth place.
4. Haas
Another team anticipating difficulties in China, Haas gained a valuable point thanks to Nico Hulkenberg thanks to the German’s good pace on the other midfielders. Ninth place rather helped the situation, and Hülkenberg managed to keep an eye on a recovering Hamilton until the end of the grand prix.
Kevin Magnussen’s assault on Tsunoda after the restart was clumsy and worthy of the penalty he got as a result, but he had decent pace in trying to recover. Nonetheless, Hulkenberg commands a clear advantage in the Haas camp and Ayao Komatsu would do well to retain the former Renault driver as Audi continues to sniff out the more established drivers on the grid for its future F1 effort.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
5. Aston Martin
Putting Fernando Alonso on soft tires during the safety car period might have promised more than an iota of fun compared to those using hard tires, but it initially seemed incongruous with the strategies adopted by other teams. It also didn’t offer much, except for a move on Carlos Sainz, and only required another pit stop where he had to make up ground again on the medium tire. But that was the turn Aston had gone into, as they had no hard tires left to play with – whether it was a team failure or a weekend issue from sprint is probably subjective at this point.
Regardless, Alonso put on a good show at the start to pass Perez, then did the heavy lifting in the late-race excitement stakes with his moves in the order to earn a solid seventh place.
Stroll was handed a 10-second penalty for dumping his AMR24 into the back of Daniel Ricciardo moments before the opening restart, causing heavy damage to the RB driver’s diffuser.
A solid points haul, especially given his difficulties in qualifying. George Russell made up ground at the start to ensure he was chasing more than token points and even had a half-sniff to challenge Sainz for fifth before a final retreat to hold on to sixth.
Lewis Hamilton’s recovery was also strong, even after a slow progress in the first stint, as the soft tires failed to pay off much in the fight against the rear-facing cars. Using the VSC period to put on the hard tires allowed him to not only mitigate the time lost with a double stop, but also give him parity with the rest of the order in terms of strategy. He might have made more progress passing the injured Piastri towards the end, but McLaren’s pace was ultimately better – with or without damage.
A new floor and lighter chassis had been prepared early on, and Esteban Ocon used these new components to place himself on the cusp of the top 10 in a race which showed promising signs for Alpine’s developments.
The French team’s torrid season continues without any conciliatory points, but Ocon came at least three seconds behind Hulkenberg to demonstrate a degree of upward mobility and optimism within the Enstone team.
Pierre Gasly’s run was less fortuitous after being somewhat at war, although one could argue he was in too much of a hurry to launch into the second lap in search of a penalty. But he did a decent job in terms of pace, both in qualifying and the race, despite the lack of updates to his car. He will receive the new package in Miami.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Hurt by Pirelli’s decision to increase the starting tire pressure by 1 psi, Williams never really looked like getting into the fight for points; Alex Albon closed Esteban Ocon towards the end, but the gap widened slightly as the Anglo-Thai driver was unable to make further progress. Already facing trade-offs, the team attempted to improve its low-speed performance with its post-sprint setup tweaks, but at the cost of higher-speed performance.
Nonetheless, Albon struggled to get the front to bite in the heavier braking zones, so 12th place was probably the maximum result achievable given the car’s limitations. Logan Sargeant was handed a 10-second penalty for appearing to overtake Nico Hulkenberg exiting the pits after the safety car line – although this could be interpreted as harsh given the narrow margins.
9. Sauber
Zhou Guanyu gave the Chinese crowd something to smile about with a few passes towards the end after a late call for the softs, but the Shanghai-born driver was already well out of the points race. A five-second pit stop also hurt his race and arguably cost him a chance to challenge Gasly, but at least Sauber is no longer fazed by stops lasting around 30 seconds. A fix should be in place for Imola.
Valtteri Bottas had, however, looked in contention for a point, but his Ferrari power unit died on lap 20 to produce the first safety car period… ultimately, as the FIA faltered in its decision-making process at – beyond the double wave yellows. .
10.RB
Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were both embroiled in race-ending incidents either side of the first reintroduction of the safety car to the pits; Ricciardo was pierced by Stroll and suffered very heavy damage to his ground, while Tsunoda had to deal with Magnussen who launched languidly against him at turn 6 on the restart.
Neither RB driver was to blame, but the decision to put the Italian team at the bottom of the list has to do with a) bad luck, and b) the expected strategy being to forgo a possible points finish.
The team opted not to place Ricciardo, then ninth, under the safety car. The Australian had to stop again, having only used medium tires until then, and a safety car stop might have ensured he could preserve that assuming another set of hard tires was available. Tsunoda’s early stops also didn’t help the cause of the Japanese driver, who was hoping to recover from a poor qualifying session.
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Max Verstappen dominated once again, having hinted at his clear pace advantage in Saturday’s sprint race, but it didn’t go Red Bull’s way as Sergio Perez was edged out in the stops.
Neither team was able to enjoy a mistake-free day as both safety cars put decision-making under a microscope, but it certainly helped ensure China’s return to the schedule was not a one-dimensional affair .
1. Red Bull
Miles faster than anyone else, as evidenced by a) Verstappen’s sprint victory from fourth on the grid, and b) his seemingly effortless victory in the grand prix. Good traction allowed him to press the accelerator on the exit of Turn 14 each time to maintain his lead during the safety car restarts, and to have the pace in hand to make a two-man strategy work stops without much loss of time. .
Perez certainly drew the short straw in terms of strategy and fell behind Norris and Charles Leclerc after his second stop, but, if he had not been so far behind Verstappen, the double stack could have given the Mexican a second happier time.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Citing the plethora of low-speed corners and long-radius corners, McLaren anticipated a struggle in China – “damage limitation”, as team principal Andrea Stella called it. But Norris and McLaren put together an incredibly strong race to secure second place; although it looked like the team might have missed the mark by stopping Norris under the virtual safety car, the delay in removing Valtteri Bottas’ blocked Sauber offered a second bite at the cherry.
When Red Bull stopped again, it gave Norris second place in the order. Crucially, his race pace was slightly faster than Perez’s, allowing him to maintain a five-second gap on third place to secure a surprise podium.
Oscar Piastri initially struggled compared to Norris and was unable to keep tabs on his more experienced teammate, but did an admirable job of keeping Lewis Hamilton behind despite the diffuser damage suffered during traffic congestion. first reboot.
It wasn’t the performance most expected from Ferrari, but that’s not the team’s fault; the expected graining of the front tires was not present in Shanghai and therefore did not have a slight advantage to exploit. Regardless, both drivers managed to make a one-stop strategy work despite suggestions of slower pace in the latter stages of the race.
Leclerc defended well against Perez after the safety car periods but ultimately didn’t have the pace in reserve to stifle the Red Bull driver for too long. For his part, Sainz had a more precarious job to do managing his hard tires over a 38-lap stint but kept enough life in them to claim a well-worked fifth place.
4. Haas
Another team anticipating difficulties in China, Haas gained a valuable point thanks to Nico Hulkenberg thanks to the German’s good pace on the other midfielders. Ninth place rather helped the situation, and Hülkenberg managed to keep an eye on a recovering Hamilton until the end of the grand prix.
Kevin Magnussen’s assault on Tsunoda after the restart was clumsy and worthy of the penalty he got as a result, but he had decent pace in trying to recover. Nonetheless, Hulkenberg commands a clear advantage in the Haas camp and Ayao Komatsu would do well to retain the former Renault driver as Audi continues to sniff out the more established drivers on the grid for its future F1 effort.
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
5. Aston Martin
Putting Fernando Alonso on soft tires during the safety car period might have promised more than an iota of fun compared to those using hard tires, but it initially seemed incongruous with the strategies adopted by other teams. It also didn’t offer much, except for a move on Carlos Sainz, and only required another pit stop where he had to make up ground again on the medium tire. But that was the turn Aston had gone into, as they had no hard tires left to play with – whether it was a team failure or a weekend issue from sprint is probably subjective at this point.
Regardless, Alonso put on a good show at the start to pass Perez, then did the heavy lifting in the late-race excitement stakes with his moves in the order to earn a solid seventh place.
Stroll was handed a 10-second penalty for dumping his AMR24 into the back of Daniel Ricciardo moments before the opening restart, causing heavy damage to the RB driver’s diffuser.
A solid points haul, especially given his difficulties in qualifying. George Russell made up ground at the start to ensure he was chasing more than token points and even had a half-sniff to challenge Sainz for fifth before a final retreat to hold on to sixth.
Lewis Hamilton’s recovery was also strong, even after a slow progress in the first stint, as the soft tires failed to pay off much in the fight against the rear-facing cars. Using the VSC period to put on the hard tires allowed him to not only mitigate the time lost with a double stop, but also give him parity with the rest of the order in terms of strategy. He might have made more progress passing the injured Piastri towards the end, but McLaren’s pace was ultimately better – with or without damage.
A new floor and lighter chassis had been prepared early on, and Esteban Ocon used these new components to place himself on the cusp of the top 10 in a race which showed promising signs for Alpine’s developments.
The French team’s torrid season continues without any conciliatory points, but Ocon came at least three seconds behind Hulkenberg to demonstrate a degree of upward mobility and optimism within the Enstone team.
Pierre Gasly’s run was less fortuitous after being somewhat at war, although one could argue he was in too much of a hurry to launch into the second lap in search of a penalty. But he did a decent job in terms of pace, both in qualifying and the race, despite the lack of updates to his car. He will receive the new package in Miami.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Hurt by Pirelli’s decision to increase the starting tire pressure by 1 psi, Williams never really looked like getting into the fight for points; Alex Albon closed Esteban Ocon towards the end, but the gap widened slightly as the Anglo-Thai driver was unable to make further progress. Already facing trade-offs, the team attempted to improve its low-speed performance with its post-sprint setup tweaks, but at the cost of higher-speed performance.
Nonetheless, Albon struggled to get the front to bite in the heavier braking zones, so 12th place was probably the maximum result achievable given the car’s limitations. Logan Sargeant was handed a 10-second penalty for appearing to overtake Nico Hulkenberg exiting the pits after the safety car line – although this could be interpreted as harsh given the narrow margins.
9. Sauber
Zhou Guanyu gave the Chinese crowd something to smile about with a few passes towards the end after a late call for the softs, but the Shanghai-born driver was already well out of the points race. A five-second pit stop also hurt his race and arguably cost him a chance to challenge Gasly, but at least Sauber is no longer fazed by stops lasting around 30 seconds. A fix should be in place for Imola.
Valtteri Bottas had, however, looked in contention for a point, but his Ferrari power unit died on lap 20 to produce the first safety car period… ultimately, as the FIA faltered in its decision-making process at – beyond the double wave yellows. .
10.RB
Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were both embroiled in race-ending incidents either side of the first reintroduction of the safety car to the pits; Ricciardo was pierced by Stroll and suffered very heavy damage to his ground, while Tsunoda had to deal with Magnussen who launched languidly against him at turn 6 on the restart.
Neither RB driver was to blame, but the decision to put the Italian team at the bottom of the list has to do with a) bad luck, and b) the expected strategy being to forgo a possible points finish.
The team opted not to place Ricciardo, then ninth, under the safety car. The Australian had to stop again, having only used medium tires until then, and a safety car stop might have ensured he could preserve that assuming another set of hard tires was available. Tsunoda’s early stops also didn’t help the cause of the Japanese driver, who was hoping to recover from a poor qualifying session.
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images