Max wins F1’s China comeback
Max Verstappen thumped the opposition at Formula 1’s first Chinese Grand Prix in five years to take his fourth victory of the season in Shanghai last Sunday (Apr 21).
Verstappen aced his getaway from pole and gapped the field by around a second a lap in the opening six laps to put his victory bid beyond doubt.
His only challenge came shortly before half distance during a series of closely linked safety car interruptions that forced him to change strategy.
The first safety car was deployed on lap 23 to collect Valtteri Bottas’s stopped Sauber, which had ground to a halt at turn 11 and was stuck in gear.
The prospect of a cheap pit stop enticed half the grid back into pit lane for fresh rubber in the hope the hard compound could be massaged to the end of the race on lap 56, and Red Bull Racing was forced to follow suit.
What little jeopardy there was in the long final stint evaporated shortly before the race got back underway on lap 27 when Lance Stroll clouted into the back of Daniel Ricciardo’s RB car at the final hairpin.
The field had been bunching up behind Verstappen as the Dutchman readied himself to resume the race. Stroll, apparently paying insufficient attention to the concertinaing pack, ploughed so hard into the back of Ricciardo’s car that it sent the Australian momentarily airborne, clattering into compatriot Oscar Piastri as he landed.
Piastri’s car was damaged but able to continue, Ricciardo was forced to retire, while Stroll had to pit for repairs and was penalised 10 seconds for the crash.
It was a dreadful half-minute for the RB team, with Yuki Tsunoda being taken out of the race by an overly ambitious Kevin Magnussen, who dived down the inside of turn 6 but made heavy contact with the rival car.
The carnage forced the race back behind the safety car until lap 32, by which time the chequered flag was comfortably within range of the hard tyre, allowing Verstappen to cruise to the finish line with an easy 13.7-second advantage.
‘ON RAILS’
“It felt amazing,” Verstappen said. “All weekend I think we were incredibly quick. You had a car was basically on rails, and I could do whatever I wanted to with it.”
Lando Norris impressed for McLaren with a strong second place, lapping quickly enough to keep Sergio Pérez in the sister Red
Bull Racing car at bay for the entire second half of the race.
Norris had got lucky with the timing of Bottas’s stoppage, which was initially dealt with by a virtual safety car. He took the opportunity to make a cheap stop, and when the rest of the leaders pitted behind the safety car, he found himself elevated into podium contention.
But luck was only half the task, with Norris finding a sublime rhythm around the Shanghai circuit to earn McLaren’s best finish of the season and defy expectations.
Pérez had a less straightforward race than Verstappen, having to recapture second place off the line from a fast-starting Fernando Alonso and then losing two places behind the safety car.
While Charles Leclerc was easy enough for him to deal with, he had no pace to run with Norris.
Leclerc finished fourth with teammate Carlos Sainz a place behind him in fifth.
George Russell was sixth as he managed to fend off Alonso in the final laps despite the Spaniard being forced to make three stops by the timing of the safety car.
Oscar Piastri limped to the flag in eighth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was up from 18th thanks in part to a second pit stop that pre-empted the safety car, while Nico Hülkenberg scored the final point of the race for Haas in 10th.