Papaya party! McLaren-Pilot Oscar Piatri has won the China Grand Prix. The Australian celebrated a start-finish victory in front of teammate Lando Norris and Mercedes driver George Russell in Shanghai.
Oscar Piatri has underpinned McLaren’s new exceptional position in Formula 1 and at the same time heralded an exciting duel at the traditional racing team. The young Australian won the second race of the season in China in front of Vice World Champion and teammate Lando Norris, who won at the start in Australia – this duel could now shape the first few weeks of the young season.
As at the start in Melbourne, George Russell was also defensive in the Mercedes, won third place again. Ferrari, on the other hand, has been puzzling so far: one day after Lewis Hamilton’s surprisingly confident victory in Shanghai’s sprint, the Scuderia had problems again. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton only got the ranks five and six behind world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.
Disillusionment for Ferrari and Hülkenberg
In the World Cup classification, Norris continues to lead with 44 points, Piatri (34) made a jump: in Australia, after a late driving mistake, he had fallen back a long way, in China he now brought in a rich dot in Sprint (second place) and Grand Prix and was only ten points back. However, it is quite tight: Verstappen (36) and Russell (35) remain at the top in striking distance.
For Nico Hülkenberg in the clean, the weekend in China brought disillusionment. After the surprise with seventh place in Melbourne, this time he landed only in 18th place. In the first round, the German had slipped into the dirt while accelerating and had lost some places.
Piatris wobbled at the front, Russell came dangerously from second place – but then had to put back in the elongated “snail curve” and even fell behind Norris. The two McLaren led the race early, followed by Ferrari duo behind Russell: Verstappen had fallen behind Hamilton and Leclerc from starting place.
The world champion had been asked before the start. “Everyone in front of me has to leave,” said Verstappen, “we are too slow.” In fact, he couldn’t keep up with the tip, but once again took out the maximum.
Controlled races of Piatri
At the front, the order initially established itself, only the first pit stops in the 14th and 15th round brought movement again: Norris initially lost his place to Russell, but fought back on the track a little later. Behind it became more and clearer that Leclerc was the faster Ferrari driver on this day. Despite a damaged front wing, the Monegasse hung in Hamilton’s neck and obviously lost time. “This is a shame, I have the speed,” he sparked on the box. In round 21, Hamilton then had to advance him at the announcement of the team. Leclerc came close to Russell very quickly, but not over.
Before that, Piatri drove a controlled race at the top, a good three seconds were the lead on Norris, the positions already seemed distributed at the race – and in fact not much happened. A larger role in the final phase then fell into disrepair: the Dutch found his pace late, put Leclerc under pressure in the duel for fourth place and passed three rounds before the end.