The Chinese Grand Prix showcased two races this weekend, one being the 19-lap Sprint Race on Saturday and the full 56-lap Grand Prix on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton was able to turn his first pole position with Ferrari during Sprint Qualifying to his first victory with his new team during the Sprint Race, scoring eight points for himself and the team. Hamilton was followed by Oscar Piastri of McLaren in second and Max Verstappen of Red Bull in third. Piastri came out on top in the main event, followed 9.748 seconds after by his teammate Lando Norris in P2 and George Russell of Mercedes 11.097 seconds after in P3. Piastri and Norris’ 1-2 result marked the 50th 1-2 finish in the history of McLaren, and Russell’s third place finish marked the 300th podium in the history of Mercedes.
Despite a strong performance by Hamilton and Ferrari in the Sprint, with their other driver Charles Leclerc finishing P5 and also picking up a few points, the team struggled from start to finish when it came to the Grand Prix. Leclerc suffered damage to his front wing early on in the race with a piece breaking off from the left side. The driver chose to forgo a replacement — the broken wing actually helping reduce downforce on the car — which in turn helped reduce graining on the left front tire. The damage on Leclerc’s car ended up catching up to him as his initial fight for P3 with Russell ended up in a P5 result behind Verstappen. Ferrari’s misfortunes did not end there, as both cars were eventually disqualified after the race — Leclerc’s car being one kilogram under the minimum weight and Hamilton’s rearward skid wear being 0.55 millimeters below the limit. Ferrari is now fifth in the constructors’ standings. Leclerc and Hamilton have now fallen behind both McLarens, both Mercedes, Verstappen, Esteban Ocon of Haas, Alexander Albon of Williams and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin in the drivers’ standings.
Jack Doohan and Pierre Gasly of Alpine also struggled this weekend, with Doohan earning a 10-second penalty in the Sprint for causing a collision and another 10-second penalty in the Grand Prix for forcing Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar off the track. Doohan finished out of the points in both races. Gasly had a relatively satisfactory result, finishing P12 in the Sprint and P11 in the Grand Prix, but was later disqualified for being under the minimum weight requirement.
Hadjar and teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished out of the points during the Grand Prix after Tsunoda secured points in the Sprint. The result was disappointing given the Racing Bulls promising performance in Qualifying, with both cars making it to Q3 and starting P7 and P9.
A few teams and drivers had a notable performance this weekend, with McLaren sitting dominant once again and Russell claiming his second P3 trophy in a row. Russell’s teammate, Kimi Antonelli, finished P6 after the disqualifications and won the Driver of the Day title. Mercedes sits at a comfortable second place in the constructors’ standings after McLaren. Williams and Haas, both considered back marker teams, finished with double points this weekend after the updated results. Albon, who was celebrating his birthday during the race, was the first Williams driver to lead in a Grand Prix in nearly a decade. The updated P10 finish of his teammate, Carlos Sainz Jr., marked the driver’s first points with the team. Ocon and Oliver Bearman of Haas finished P5 and P8 respectively, with Bearman putting on a particularly impressive show of overtaking after starting in P17. Stroll rounded out the point finishers in P9 and had one of the best tire managements of the race, going 37 laps on one set of hard tires and executing a successful one-stop strategy. His teammate Fernando Alonso had a less fortunate race, retiring due to an issue with the brakes in just the second lap of the race.
After an unpredictable first Grand Prix last weekend in Australia, the Chinese Grand Prix showed that McLaren and Mercedes are expected to continue having good results as the season continues. Williams and Haas have been surprisingly catching up, and on the other hand, Ferrari seems to be lacking the pace and competitiveness that many expected of them prior to the season. Next weekend will be an off-weekend before the teams head to Japan for the Japanese Grand Prix April 4 to 6.
