The editors’ tops/flops for the Chinese Grand Prix

The highlights of the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Fernando Alonso machine en route

Finishing third in the Chinese Grand Prix and coming in seventh, our choice for Fernando Alonso may be surprising if we only look at the numbers. But it must first be emphasized that he is driving an Aston Martin that is not at the top of the field (as shown by his teammate Lance Stroll, but we’ll come back to that…) and that he achieved a real feat by securing the third fastest time in Q3 qualifying on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Canadian was only starting on the sixth row.

The Spanish driver especially stole the show during the race on Sunday, offering us a magnificent start by overtaking Sergio Perez from the first corner. He couldn’t hold off the assaults of the Red Bull for long, but we can only salute such a start. His performance was then compromised by a single set of tires and the intervention of the safety car, but he drove a solid race by easily overtaking the cars, even making Ferrari fear a return on Carlos Sainz (5th) towards the end of the Grand Prix. He ultimately could not pass George Russell, 6th, but he did not discredit himself and, in this equation, achieved the fastest lap of the race. Hats off.

Lando Norris above “the rest”

While he was disappointed in the sprint race despite his pole position, finishing only sixth after a misjudgment when he tried to regain the lead from Lewis Hamilton, who started very fast, Lando Norris had a good qualifying session on Saturday, securing 4th place on the starting grid. Certainly, he could have probably beaten Alonso in qualifying, but he executed a smart race, taking advantage of the safety car to snatch second place from Perez, while the latter, in the fastest car on the grid, couldn’t catch up with him. A solid weekend overall for the British driver, who once again outshone his teammate Oscar Piastri and rightfully earned the title of driver of the day.

Nico Hülkenberg, in the points again

If we were logical, we would have put Max Verstappen here, so impeccable was his weekend (only “dimmed”, if we can say so, by a missed sprint qualification, before winning the sprint race, pole position for Sunday, and the Chinese Grand Prix). But we would have very little to say as everything is easy for the Dutchman.

We have therefore chosen Nico Hülkenberg, who finished tenth on Sunday and therefore returns to the points, for the third time in five Grand Prix races. His tally now stands at 4 points, compared to just one for his Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen. The Danish driver only finished 16th in the Chinese Grand Prix after colliding with Yuki Tsunoda, forcing the latter to retire.

Besides Sunday, let’s also note Hülkenberg’s very good qualifying on Saturday, managing to reach Q3, starting 9th for the race (compared to Magnussen’s 17th). It must be said, it is becoming regular in qualifying and in the race for the Hülkenberg/Haas combo. Promising. However, for the sprint, it was the Dane who took the lead.

The flops of the Chinese Grand Prix

Does Lance Stroll still deserve his place?

This is undoubtedly the question that many viewers are asking themselves after the Chinese Grand Prix. Outperformed (as usual, we want to say) all weekend by his teammate Fernando Alonso, he made an unforgivable mistake for an F1 driver on Sunday, causing a violent chain reaction collision shortly after the restart following the safety car period, and Daniel Ricciardo’s retirement. The incident occurred when Fernando Alonso triggered a domino effect behind the safety car, forcing several drivers to brake. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll seemed completely elsewhere and did not press the brake pedal at all, crashing into the back of the V-CARB number 3 at full speed, even propelling it over the nose of the Aston Martin. Lance Stroll received a 10-second penalty and two penalty points on his license.

Instead of apologizing for his mistake as expected from responsible drivers in this kind of situation, the Canadian added insult to injury by exclaiming ‘What an idiot!’ on the radio. This made the blood of the Australian boil in a post-race interview, when the Canal Plus team showed him the reaction of the Aston Martin pilot. ‘Apparently, it’s me the idiot and it’s my fault. I’m really trying to do my best not to say what I want to say, but to hell with him,’ Ricciardo said. ‘If he watches the sequence in an hour, he will regret it. But if not, I can’t help him.’

« It was like a concertina effect, Lance Stroll later explained. « Ricciardo stopped right in front of me and I had nowhere to go, even when I saw him braking like that. So I don’t think he’s the only one responsible. I think it’s probably someone at the front who braked and there was a natural concertina effect.

Alpine’s Mistake in Pierre Gasly’s Pit Stop

While Alpine pleasantly surprised us this weekend, with a better pace than in the first four races and Esteban Ocon finishing just outside the points (11th), the Enstone team also made a serious mistake in China. During a pit stop for Pierre Gasly, a wheel was not properly tightened as the driver was given the green light to go. The mechanic near the wheel signaled that it was not okay, but the car left and caused him to fall, slightly injuring him. A frightening moment for the technician and the driver, who quickly asked for updates over the radio.

Let’s add to this story that the pit stop lasted 19 long seconds, ruining Gasly’s (otherwise good) race, and he almost hit Lance Stroll as he was leaving his pit. An incident that could have caused much more damage, and ultimately resulted in a 10,000 euro fine for Alpine. Amateurism, as Laurent Rossi liked to say, before being fired himself…

Yuki Tsunoda out of rhythm (for once)

19th in the shootout sprint, 16th in the sprint race, back to 19th in qualifying on Saturday and then forced to retire after a collision with Magnussen on Sunday, Yuki Tsunoda was (for once) below Daniel Ricciardo all weekend in China. A lack of pace that will need to be analyzed to start afresh ahead of the Miami Grand Prix in 15 days.

Is Lewis Hamilton in free-wheel mode?

All smiles after the sprint race on Saturday, in which he finished in second place behind Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton quickly became disillusioned during the qualifying session, achieving the 18th time… 10 positions back from his teammate George Russell, who started in 8th place on Sunday. He did manage to climb up part of the grid to finally finish in 9th place, but it was clear that he struggled, especially behind Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. He also complained about the slowness and behavior of the Mercedes throughout the weekend, an attitude that is starting to become a bit tiresome, especially as Russell (6th in China with a strong race) has outperformed him in all races this year (except for the double retirement in Australia).

(Honourable) Mention: FIA commissioners

What a heartbreaking sight to see the FIA commissioners struggling to unlock Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber after his engine failure. But it is especially the image of the driver, standing next to the car and right in the path of the cars, that catches our attention. The commissioners should have moved him away and immediately triggered the Virtual Safety Car without waiting. A VSC that turned into a safety car due to the commissioners’ difficulties in removing the Sauber.