Formula 1 in China
Dominant performance: McLaren-Jungstar wins
Updated on March 23, 2025 – 9:54 a.m.Reading time: 3 min.
In China, McLaren-Pilot Oscar Piatri drove up a confident victory in front of his teammate. However, he claims the World Cup lead.
Oscar Piatri achieved a confident victory at the China Grand Prix. The McLaren-Jungstar used the first pole position of his career and a superior car to run his first win of the season and the third success of his career. He also referred his teammate Lando Norris, who had won the season opener in Australia, in second place.
However, it keeps the front in the World Cup, since Piatri was only able to score two points at the season opener with ninth. Mercedes pilot George Russell completed the podium in third place. The reigning world champion Max Verstappen only finished fourth in the weakening Red Bull.
The race was disappointing for the only German, Nico Hülkenberg. Starting from twelve twelve, he lost numerous places in the first round and ended up in 18th place.
Piatri confidently defended his first place at the start. On Saturday, the 23-year-old fought for the first time in his career, the pole position for a Grand Prix. Teammate Norris quickly took the persecution and pushed past George Russell in second place.
The overall leader had made some mistakes the day before, was only eighth in the sprint and a few hours later in qualifying. After his success in the previous week, Norris was the big favorite for the next triumph, but gave away World Cup points by mistakes.
Behind the top trio, Ferrari’s newcomer Lewis Hamilton made pressure at least at the beginning. The record world champion won the first sprint of the year over a good 100 kilometers around 24 hours earlier. After moving from Mercedes, the 40-year-old was greatly improved on the second race weekend at the “Scuderia” in the short race. In Melbourne it had only been enough for tenth.
While Piatri and Norris give the pace at the top, world champion Max Verstappen had big problems over long distances. After less than ten out of 56 rounds, the Dutch lost its connection and, as a sixth, had to look for the longest that it would not fall further back. “The prospects are not so good,” said the 63-time Grand Prix winner Verstappen before starting on the way to his car at Sky: “We are too slow.”
The dominator of the past few years was right with fear. In Australia, the 27-year-old helped a chaotic race and still stimulate second place behind Norris. In dry conditions and without incidents, the Red Bull was too weak and was not a competition for McLaren. After all, he was able to assert himself against the Ferrari and first overtake Hamilton and shortly before the end Charles Leclerc.
It became more turbulent when changing tires. Russell pushed itself over the two McLaren thanks to the perfect processes in the silver arrows and pulled past Norris. But that didn’t last for a long time, and Norris went to hunt for Piatri again. The drivers of the traditional British team continued, with Norris not having a danger to the strong Piatri. This was also due to the fact that considerable braking problems plagued him in the last rounds.