Chinese Grand Prix: Max Verstappen once again imperious, Lando Norris solid second ahead of Sergio Perez

As we have been accustomed to for some time now, Max Verstappen starts from pole position in this Chinese Grand Prix, followed by his teammate Sergio Perez and the world champion Fernando Alonso, who surprised everyone during qualifying. Next are the McLarens, which were strong on Saturday, and the Ferraris. A light rain starts to fall on Shanghai a few minutes before the start. Everyone is starting on medium tires, except Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda, Lewis Hamilton, and Logan Sargent (starting from the pits), on soft tires. Kevin Magnussen is on hard tires.

We are witnessing a good start from Verstappen, as expected, but Fernando Alonso immediately takes the advantage over Sergio Perez at the first corner and steals second position from him. George Russell has also gained two places, as has Nico Hülkenberg, while both Ferraris have had a bad start, each losing two positions. They will quickly regain one by overtaking the German from Haas, but Russell remains sandwiched between Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc in 6th. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton is not satisfied with the pace provided by his tires. An incident is noted between Lance Stroll and Nico Hülkenberg, with the former pushing the latter off the track limits. The same goes for Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon.

We are in the third lap and Verstappen already has a 3-second lead over his pursuer, the Spaniard from Aston Martin, who sees Perez’s Red Bull approaching him to less than a second. He will overtake him again by the fourth lap. Alonso will then be overtaken by Lando Norris. This Chinese Grand Prix already seems to be a foregone conclusion as far as the top step of the podium is concerned.

In turn 9, Charles Leclerc passes Lewis Hamilton, who had managed to insert himself between him and his teammate. The Briton then goes into the pits to put on medium tires. Note that Pierre Gasly is making a very good start to the race in his Alpine, which is more than complicated, 9th on the 11th lap between Sainz and Ricciardo. The Spaniard from Ferrari begins to increase the pace and puts pressure on George Russell, while Charles Leclerc takes 5th place from Oscar Piastri.

Russell and Alonso pit on the 12th lap, the former to switch to medium tires, the latter to hards. **Big scare for Pierre Gasly, who pitted at the same time and almost collided with Lance Stroll in the pit lane, while his pit stop took 19 seconds**, a fatal mistake for Alpine. One of the mechanics fell during the tire change. The Frenchman finds himself at the back. Also relegated to the back of the pack after his pit stop (and his disastrous qualifying), Lewis Hamilton is moving up the grid but remains stuck in 14th place. Verstappen also pits on the 14th lap along with Perez, both on hards. The Dutchman comes out ahead of Leclerc, while the Mexican is behind the Monegasque. Lando Norris is now leading the race.

A long run for Charles Leclerc?

But Verstappen overtakes Leclerc only a few laps later, without any difficulty, and is already right behind Norris. Meanwhile, Hamilton, still struggling in 14th position, complains about the slowness of the Mercedes. Perez is catching up with Sainz. Neither Ferrari nor Lando Norris have changed tires yet on the 18th lap, and it’s starting to show. Sainz is the first to come in for a stop at Ferrari and puts on the hard tires. Norris is told that Leclerc is trying to go for a long run and may even only pit once.

The current world champion takes the lead at turn 14, lap 19, while Norris struggles with his worn tires.

Further back, there is a battle between the two V-CARBs, with Ricciardo managing to gain the upper hand over his teammate (for once…) Valtteri Bottas then falls victim to an engine failure and comes to a stop at turn 11, triggering a virtual safety car. Charles Leclerc takes advantage of this to pit on lap 22 and switches to hard tires. However, he comes out behind Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile, Sainz misses his braking point, locks up and damages his tires. Stroll takes advantage to overtake him, but the latter also pits, as do Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, who was the last of the frontrunners to still have to change tires. The British McLaren driver comes out in third place, between Perez and Alonso.

Two safety car deployments at the Chinese Grand Prix.

In front of the difficulties the commissioners faced in unlocking Valtteri Bottas’ immobilized Sauber, the race management finally decides to bring out the safety car on the 24th lap . Verstappen takes advantage of this to pit, with Alonso and Perez following suit. Good move for the latter. So we have Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc behind the safety car, followed by Perez, Piastri, and Sainz.

In the meantime, Hamilton, still in 14th place, reports to his team that something is wrong with his Mercedes. The car is sliding everywhere, I have the feeling that something is broken, maybe the balance, he notes.

The safety car comes in on lap 26, Verstappen immediately taking a 1.2-second advantage over Norris. Just as the safety car comes in, Tsunoda comes to a stop in the grass, the victim of a collision with Kevin Magnussen, who is suffering from a puncture. At the same time, Lance Stroll went speeding into the back of Daniel Ricciardo, with the V-CARB lifted into the air and narrowly missing Piastri’s McLaren in front of him in this chaotic ballet. The safety car is back on track. Tsunoda is forced to retire, while Stroll and Magnussen go through the pits to repair the damage. The safety car comes in on lap 31, with Verstappen once again setting the pace.

Penalties of 10 seconds handed out

Ricciardo is suffering from damage after his collision with Stroll, whose incident is under investigation. He is powerless and is overtaken by the entire grid. The incident between Magnussen and Tsunoda is also under investigation. Logan Sargeant receives a 10-second penalty for a dangerous maneuver behind the safety car. Stroll and Magnussen also each receive a 10-second penalty, while Ricciardo comes into the pits and eventually retires. It’s a double retirement for V-CARB. There is a tight battle between Stroll and Magnussen as they fight for the last place. Some nice overtakes, with the Canadian emerging victorious, if one can say so for 16th place…

Fernando Alonso, on soft tires, has increased the gap with Carlos Sainz, but he will soon start to suffer on these tires. Up front, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez are fighting for third place, with the Monegasque driver in the lead but struggling to resist. He will give up on lap 39. The Ferrari driver is complaining about his tires and expressing doubts to his team. His teammate is also struggling while George Russell is closing in on him for 6th place. Meanwhile, Piastri learns from his team that his car is suffering from significant damage after being hit by Ricciardo in the incident with Magnussen.

Note that behind, Nico Hülkenberg was able to move up to ninth position and resist the attacks of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes… until the 41st lap. The German is having a very good race at the wheel of the Haas.

The Alonso machine on the road

Bad news for Ocon: Alpine can’t withstand Alonso’s attack and surrenders its 10th place to drop out of the points, as we are less than 10 laps from the finish. The Spaniard then easily overtakes Hülkenberg’s Haas. It is even said to Sainz, 5th, that Alonso (4 places further back) is a threat to them. He is stuck in traffic but could find himself behind them at the end of the race. At the same time, Alonso almost goes off track into the gravel but manages to save it at the last minute and retakes 8th place from Hamilton, before passing Piastri just a few seconds later. He is now just one place away from reaching Sainz, with Russell between the two Spaniards. But the Mercedes is giving a hard time to the Aston Martin, 8 seconds behind with three laps to go.

At the front, Norris seems to be well placed to keep his second place, with Perez struggling to catch up, 5 seconds behind. It heats up at the end of the race as debris from Guanyu Zhou’s Sauber (more motivated than ever behind Gasly) alerts Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, who asks for his tire condition to be checked. But that’s all for this Chinese Grand Prix, with the Dutchman once again victorious, followed by Lando Norris and Sergio Perez. Off the podium, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz take 4th and 5th place, while George Russell resisted Fernando Alonso’s attacks to keep 6th place. Esteban Ocon (11th) and Pierre Gasly (13th) finish out of the points. Lando Norris is voted driver of the day, a title he truly deserves.

The ranking of the Chinese Grand Prix