China - Race

A podium that was not predicted even by the drivers who found themselves on it, two safety cars in the span of a few minutes, and three drivers retiring early made for a fascinating Sunday race. The challenging Chinese circuit provided a lot of emotions, ensuring that the first race back since 2019 would be one to remember.

It began with the first ten cars all on medium tires and Logan Sargeant starting from the pits, as his team wanted to make some changes to the setup of his Williams. Right after the lights went out Alonso, who started third, overtook Perez in second, while Russel and Hulkenberg managed to drive in front of the two Ferraris. Hamilton, further down the back, dropped to 19, losing one place to Tsunoda.  

The chaotic moves of the first lap were partially rectified soon after, as Leclerc and Sainz moved past the Haas, and Perez retook P2. Lando began making his moves on Alonso, who was now right in front of him, and by lap 8 managed to overtake him, finding himself in the top three. Leclerc passed Russel and, a bit later on, Piastri, ending up in P5. Sainz also tried to get past the Mercedes but struggled with the final move. The cars further down the field fiercely battled for track position, with Hulkenberg reporting that Stroll had run him off track, and Albon and Gasly aggressively battling for P13. 

Around lap 10 we saw a wave of early pit stops. Hamilton changed his tires to mediums and began working his way up the field, managing to reach P14 by lap 17. Red Bull showed off their skills as they performed a marvellous double stop (2.1 for Verstappen and 2.0 for Perez). They were able to do so because, at that point, the gap between the two cars was already close to 8 seconds. Gasly's pit stop turned dangerous for one of Alpine's mechanics, but thankfully no one was injured. 

The race took a turn when Bottas lost his engine at lap 21 and was forced to retire. He brought out a yellow flag and, for a few laps, the virtually safety car. Some drivers, such as Leclerc or Norris, used this occasion to pit, saving some valuable time. When it became clear that removing Bottas' car wouldn't be easy, the virtual safety car was turned into a full one. This, once again, provided a great opportunity for drivers to pit. Verstappen, Perez, and Alonso all seized it. Leclerc and Norris both found themselves ahead of Perez for the safety car line. Sargeant and Hulkenberg were noted for pit infringement as it was reported that Sargeant might have overtaken the Haas under the safety car. 

The safety car ended at lap 26. Just as it seemed that racing would go on, an unfortunate series of events led to even more chaos on track. While the cars were driving closely together, preparing for the full-speed racing to continue, Alonso's wheel locked up, causing him to go into a turn differently than he normally would have. Since the cars behind him couldn't overtake, they all needed to unexpectedly break. Lance Stroll didn't manage to break in time and rammed into Ricciardo's car, lifting its back off track. Stroll immediately dove into the pits to fix the damage to his front wing, while Ricciardo stayed out. Seconds later, Magnussen and Tsunoda made contact, causing the Japanese driver to spin, and creating a puncture in the Haas' tire. Tsunoda could not continue racing and retired the car, bringing out a second yellow flag and a second safety car just minutes after the first one. 

This time, it ended at the end of lap 31. By that time, the top three consisted of Verstappen, Norris, and Leclerc.  Upon restart, car after car passed by the damaged vehicle of Ricciardo. By lap 34 RB decided to retire the car, meaning that neither of their drivers got to finish the Chinese Grand Prix. Around that time, the stewards made their decisions about a few of the incidents that occurred during the race, and three 10-second penalties were given out: Sargeant got one for overtaking Hulkenberg under the safety car, Stroll for driving into the back of Ricciardo, and Magnussen for clipping Tsunoda. This did not dim the fighting spirit in Magnussen and Stroll, who found themselves battling wheel-to-wheel, both determined not the be at the very end of the pack. Their fight ended with Stroll on top, however soon after, the Aston Martin came into the pits to change tires and serve his penalty. 

In the front, Norris built up more and more of a gap to Perez and Leclerc who battled for 3rd. At lap 39 the Red Bull managed to overtake the Ferrari, driving into P3. Alonso made the risky move of chasing his tires for mediums. It ended up working out great for him as he passed multiple cars and achieved the fastest lap of the race. It wasn't all happiness, however, as had his moment of panic when he almost lost his car in the same way Sainz did during qualifying. In the end, he didn't suffer any consequences for the slight mistake. 

While the home favourite Zhou Guanyu made last-minute passes to impress the crowd, Max Verstappen crossed the finish line, winning his fourth Grand Prix of the year. Norris finished the race in second, a good few seconds away from Perez who came in third. After the race, the McLaren driver admitted that he did not expect such a great result, and had even made bets regarding how far behind the Ferraris he would be. His superb performance earned him the title of driver of the day. 

Order of the grid

1. Max Verstappen

2. Lando Norris

3. Sergio Perez

4. Charles Leclerc

5. Carlos Sainz

6. George Russel

7. Fernando Alonso

8. Oscar Piastri

9. Lewis Hamilton

10. Nico Hulkenberg

11. Esteban Ocon

12. Alex Albon

13. Pierre Gasly

14. Zhou Guanyu

15. Lance Stroll

16. Kevin Magnussen

17. Logan Sargeant

DNF Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas