Max Verstappen wins, once again executing an undisputed performance at the Chinese GP. He was ahead of Lando Norris and Sergio Perez at the end of a perfect weekend. The Dutchman, who only lacks the additional point of the fastest lap, was conquered by Alonso thanks to an aggressive strategy due to a lack of tyres. McLaren surprisingly proved to be the second force behind Red Bull on a very difficult track for the MCL38, as announced first by Norris yesterday. The Woking team was helped by a very difficult weekend for Ferrari, never competitive except for the very first stages of the weekend.
Fernando Alonso drove an excellent race. He confirmed Aston Martin’s status as the fourth-fastest team after the updates brought to Suzuka. The Spaniard came home in seventh position. Further back, the Racing Bulls drivers were unlucky, especially Ricciardo, who missed an opportunity to score more points. Nico Hulkenberg, in tenth position, rounded off a positive Chinese GP for Haas.
CHINESE GP: FIA UNPREPARED IN MANAGING THE SAFETY CAR, FERRARI NEVER ALIVE
Starting from the early stages of the race, both Ferraris lost two positions in rapid succession to Russell and Hulkenberg. This was also due to an internal debacle with Leclerc, who concentrated on keeping his teammate behind. From the first laps, Red Bull showed their well-known superiority. Alonso struggled after a few laps due to the high degradation on his AMR24 despite the updates brought to Suzuka. Surprisingly, McLaren kept the pace well also thanks to great race management by Lando Norris. His degradation was under control, and he kept a reasonable distance from Verstappen. The worst Ferrari of the season, and not by a little, finished in fourth and fifth position in Shanghai, 24 seconds behind Verstappen in just 25 laps after the restart of the second Safety Car.
Sainz and especially Leclerc have never been at ease with the car, even in the race. The changes to the set-up of the SF-24 between yesterday’s Sprint and Qualifying did not give the desired results. Today, performance was missing – in addition to serious tyre heating problems. The Reds were at the level of competitiveness of Mercedes and Aston Martin, with the small consolation of having beaten both Russell and Alonso. The Double World Champion, due to a lack of sets of hard tyres, was compromised by the Safety car.
The most chaotic phases of the Grand Prix were a consequence of Valtteri Bottas retiring. This favoured drivers like Norris and Leclerc, who had yet to return to the pits. However, the stewards’ management was anything but optimal. Initially, the Virtual Safety Car was inserted to allow the Finn’s Sauber to be removed; after five laps, the physical Safety Car was called into action, losing almost ten laps of action in total.
At the restart, a misunderstanding between the drivers at the hairpin led Lance Stroll to hit Daniel Ricciardo, who lost a great chance to get his first points of the season due to damage to the floor and diffuser of his Racing Bulls, which led to his retirement; in turn 6 Magnussen touched Yuki Tsunoda, forcing the Japanese to retire and also preventing the second VCARB-01 from being able to fight for the points zone. The second Safety Car restart was called to the track, causing more laps of action to be lost.
