China: The Hits and Misses from the Editorial Team

The top 3:

Lewis Hamilton, unshakeable!

The five-time world champion withstands everything. Even a complicated start to the weekend, struggling with his car in free practice. Not as aggressive as usual on the Shanghai track, not comfortable until qualifying, the Brit nevertheless adapted to clinch the 75th victory of his career. While his star life on social media might suggest otherwise, Hamilton is a hard worker and quickly improves on his weak points. Two not-so-great starts in Melbourne and Sakhir? No problem, the Brit changes the game in Shanghai and snatches the lead from Bottas before the first corner!

Then, #44 controlled the race at his leisure, never being threatened by Bottas, who was in good form, as evidenced by the narrow gap of six seconds at the finish. But it is indeed Lewis Hamilton who wins the 1,000th race of the Formula 1 World Championship. The 900th was also his in Bahrain in 2014. If it was still necessary, the history of the discipline is further marked by his footprint. The present isn’t bad either: he takes the lead in the overall drivers’ standings!

Max Verstappen maximizes again!

It seemed quite unlikely, but yes, a Red Bull inserted itself between the two Ferraris during the race! This performance is the work of the Dutchman, the absolute leader of his team, as Pierre Gasly can attest. Just like in Melbourne, Verstappen stuck to the Italian cars and disrupted their strategy. The pressure move worked, thanks to the first pit stop, by taking fourth place from Leclerc.

Difficult, however, to catch up with Vettel in the last part of the race: despite a nice overtaking attempt on the 20th lap, the youngest Grand Prix winner couldn’t do better. Too bad, because according to Christian Horner, the RB15 will struggle to secure a victory this season. We still have a slight reservation if Max Verstappen continues to perform at this level, as he now ranks third in the drivers’ championship… ahead of the two Ferrari drivers.

Alexander Albon is making a name for himself!

Rookie, the Toro Rosso driver had already scored the first two points of his young career at the Bahrain Grand Prix, after the simultaneous retirement of the two Renaults. This time, Alexander Albon owes his tenth place to his own talent! In a difficult position after his crash in FP3 and missing qualifications, starting from the pit lane, the Thai driver made an impressive comeback in this Chinese Grand Prix. With a well-performing car, Albon made five overtakes, including one on Magnussen’s Haas on lap 31. His pace was impressive, which also allowed him to gain places with his one-stop strategy, switching from soft to hard tires from the 20th lap.

Benefiting from Romain Grosjean’s second stop on the 34th lap, Albon then brilliantly defended his 10th place against the Frenchman until the finish line. Enough to earn congratulations from his opponent and compliments from the paddock. Meanwhile, the torpedo Daniil Kvyat was back, colliding with both McLarens on the first lap. Named “driver of the day” by the fans, Alexander Albon gains credit!

The flop 3:

Ferrari, missed again!

Announced as the favorite on the Chinese track, the Scuderia was once again disappointed. Engine power doesn’t account for everything, and the SF90 lagged behind the Mercedes W10 in long curves. The relatively low temperature isn’t enough to excuse the lack of performance, as such weather could occur again later in the season. Relegated to the second row, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc could never compete with Hamilton and Bottas during the race, except for a brief thrill, a slight comeback by the German on the Finn at the start of the last 15 laps.

Worse, the Scuderia once again made headlines with its strategy, swapping positions between Leclerc and Vettel, which cost the Monegasque driver the fourth place. While the new Ferrari driver appears to be keeping calm, tension might still rise. As Toto Wolff pointed out, the team may have opened a Pandora’s box. What will the Scuderia do when a faster Leclerc asks to overtake Vettel? Lack of competitiveness, falling behind in both drivers’ and constructors’ standings, internal hierarchy in question: the headaches are piling up for Mattia Binotto!

Haas, a new worrying Sunday

Saturday’s outcome had already been tricky: a double appearance in Q3, but no recorded time due to a timing error. However, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen fell out of the top 10 on Sunday. The culprit was a severe lack of race pace, which stands out compared to other midfield teams. The worst part is that this lack of performance had already affected Magnussen in the Bahrain race, dropping from P6 to P13.

Faced with problems, Günther Steiner and his team currently have no solutions, as the new rear wing introduced in China has changed nothing. Haas stalls, while the beginning of the season should bring points before the development race, which usually pushes the American team back in the hierarchy. Their rivals are delighted!

Robert Kubica, a notch below

This third flop could have been awarded to Lance Stroll, Renault’s always questionable reliability, or even Antonio Giovinazzi. But the Pole hits the mark for his new weekend behind George Russell. Ahead on Friday, Kubica faded on Saturday, at the start of serious matters. And while the gap isn’t disgraceful in qualifying, within the same tenth, things became complicated during the race.

After a spin during the installation lap, his one-stop strategy didn’t pay off, as evidenced by the 16-second gap at the finish line compared to Russell. Kubica is in no man’s land and confirms the trend, facing a 3-0 deficit against his garage neighbor, both in qualifying and the race. And given the level of Williams, we can only rely on these data to describe the season of the former BMW driver…