Max Verstappen dominated once again, having hinted at his clear advantage in pace during Saturday’s sprint race, but it did not go all Red Bull’s own way as Sergio Perez was leapfrogged in the stops.
No team was able to quite enjoy an error-free day, as the two safety cars put decision-making under the microscope, but it certainly ensured that China’s return to the calendar was not a one-dimensional affair.
1. Red Bull
Miles quicker than anyone else, demonstrated by a) Verstappen’s sprint win from fourth on the grid, and b) his seemingly effortless victory in the grand prix. Good traction ensured that he could gun the throttle on the exit of Turn 14 both times to preserve his lead through the safety car restarts, and had the pace in hand to make a two-stop strategy work without too much in the way of time loss.
Perez admittedly drew the short straw on strategy and fell behind Norris and Charles Leclerc after his second stop but, had he not been so far behind Verstappen, then the double-stack might have offered the Mexican a more felicitous second half.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Citing the plethora of low-speed corners and long-radius turns, McLaren anticipated a struggle in China – “damage limitation”, as team principal Andrea Stella termed it. But Norris and McLaren put together an incredibly strong race to secure second; although it looked as though the team might have missed the boat on stopping Norris under the virtual safety car, the delay in removing Valtteri Bottas’ stranded Sauber offered a second bite at the cherry.
When Red Bull stopped again, this handed Norris second in the order. Crucially, his race pace was a snip above the pursuing Perez, allowing him to maintain a five-second gap over third place to bag a surprise podium.
Oscar Piastri initially struggled in relation to Norris and could not keep tabs on his more experienced team-mate, but did an admirable job in keeping Lewis Hamilton behind despite diffuser damage sustained in the first restart congestion.
It wasn’t the performance that most expected from Ferrari, but that’s hardly the team’s fault; the expected front tyre graining wasn’t present in Shanghai and thus it did not have a slight advantage to exploit. Regardless, both drivers managed to make a one-stop strategy work despite suggestions of fading pace in the latter stages of the race.
Leclerc defended well from Perez after the safety car periods but ultimately didn’t…
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