4 days ago
17
Oscar Piastri won the Chinese Grand Prix with a dominant run from pole position for McLaren but Lewis Hamilton had an enormously frustrating close to only his second race for Ferrari when his car was disqualified for a technical infringement after the race.
Piastri’s win – after his teammate Lando Norris’s victory in the season opener in Australia – once again demonstrated McLaren have a fearsomely quick car. The team secured a comfortable one-two with Norris second. George Russell was third for Mercedes but 11 seconds down the road from the McLarens, with Max Verstappen fourth for Red Bull. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth for Ferrari, but both were then disqualified.
After the usual checks on the cars in parc fermé, the skid blocks on the underside of Hamilton’s Ferrari were found to be below the legal thickness. Leclerc and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly were also disqualified, with their cars judged to be underweight.
The skid blocks are located as part of the plank beneath the car and required to be a specific depth after the race to ensure the car does not run below the minimum ride height. Ferrari said in a statement that Leclerc’s one-stop strategy and tyre wear caused the car to be underweight and admitted that they misjudged Hamilton’s tyre wear but there “was no intention to gain any advantage” for either driver.
It is far from the operational precision Hamilton would have been hoping for from the Scuderia, although all teams attempt to push the margin of error as close as possible for performance purposes. The decision promoted Esteban Ocon and Kimi Antonelli into fifth and sixth place.
Piastri controlled what was very much a processional race, with a flawless drive from pole, with Norris moving up to second at the start to put McLaren in a commanding position from which they were not threatened. Tyre-wear management dominated a somewhat prosaic affair but Norris did well to survive a late-race brake problem, while Ferrari switched Hamilton and Leclerc mid-race but they could make no impression on the leaders.
Norris has maintained his lead in the world championship with 44 points, ahead of Verstappen on 36, Russell on 35 and Piastri on 34.
It was Piastri’s first win in China and the third of his career after taking two victories last season in what has been a highly impressive start in F1 over just two years. His team, too, enjoyed the winning feeling in Shanghai with their 50th one-two and after a long absence from the top step in China. The last time they took the flag here was in 2011 with Hamilton.
The confidence in the balance, handling and grip of the car McLaren had enjoyed in Australia was once more in abundance when it really mattered. They have a genuine march on their rivals, the first time they have started a season on the front foot for some time, and it is the very opening the team had stressed was required if they were to make a tilt at the title.
Piastri held his lead into turn one but Norris made a quick start and swept round the outside of Russell to claim second place; the decisive moment. Leclerc lightly clipped Hamilton, bumped into his teammate off the kerbs and took front wing damage to his endplate, while Verstappen had to go wide and dropped back to sixth from fourth.
McLaren held a solid one-two but could not drop Russell in the early phase, Piastri and Norris ran line astern, very much settled with a gap of just over a second, as they looked to manage their tyres with a heavy fuel load, given the front graining that had been such a feature of Saturday’s sprint race.
Despite the damage Leclerc was frustrated, feeling he was quicker than Hamilton, who was managing his rubber.
Hamilton and Verstappen made their opening pit stops on lap 14 to take the hard tyres. Piastri and Russell followed a lap later. Norris had to stay out for an extra lap and after his stop he emerged wheel to wheel with Russell, but he was also balked by Lance Stroll and Russell took the place with the undercut. He could not hold it long, however, as the pace of the McLaren told, with Norris piling through the inside at turn one with ease two laps later.
Leclerc was showing so much pace that Hamilton moved over for his teammate on lap 21, and after the stops played out Piastri led from Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen, who was unable to make any impact from sixth. Piastri was comfortable out in front at the halfway point, with Norris having deliberately dropped out of his teammate’s dirty air, three seconds back but easily able to close when ordered to do so by his team.
Hamilton took his second stop on lap 38 as the leaders considered whether they could eke their rubber out to a one-stop strategy, with Piastri confident he could make it, and indeed the hard tyres were good to the flag.
In a race light on drama there was late concern for Norris, who had issues with his brake pedal, and the team advised him to go easy on it to ensure a finish. Verstappen, having carefully watched his tyres, finally had some pace and caught Leclerc at the close and passed him on lap 53 for fourth.
Piastri eased over the line with complete control, with the McLarens having managed their pace with ease and a clear sense they had much more in the locker. The pecking order for the season is becoming clearer and Piastri and Norris are at its head.
After the race the FIA began its checks and two hours later confirmed penalties had been imposed on Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly.
Britain’s rookie Ollie Bearman delivered a superb drive with some decisive overtaking and clever race craft to take eighth place for Haas. Alex Albon was seventh for Williams and his teammate Carlos Sainz in 10th, with Stroll in ninth for Aston Martin.
