We return to the track during the Chinese GP for a race dominated by McLaren that ends with a one-two that sees Oscar piastri in P1 and following his teammate Land Norris. Team Papaya once again showed its strength and scored its fiftieth 1-2.
The start of the Chinese GP
The starting grid remains unchanged except Lawson which starts from pit lane because he changed the set up in parc fermé after having found himself in great difficulty driving his single-seater. When the traffic lights went out, poleman, Piastres, it shoots quite well but Russell starts better and immediately tries to attack him without managing to take the lead. Norris takes advantage of this to move into P2 to make McLaren 1-2. Bad start, however, for Verstappen who lost two positions in favor of the two Reds. Between the two drivers of the Ferrari there was also a slight contact that caused Leclerc to lose a piece of the wing and therefore also 20-30 points of downforce
Rubber management phase
Fernando a nightmare start to the season because even today it is forced to retreat due to brake problems. Difficulties also for Bortoleto that after a off-piste excursion is located at a great distance from the rest of the group. Instead the others pilots they are in data management; and they are all trying to conserve their tyres because the risk of graining is very high and many are already starting to see it appear on their tyres. Among the top teams, McLaren they dictate the pace but Mercedes e Ferrari they seem to be able to keep the pace, also Leclerc who despite the aerodynamic problems seems to have more than his teammate and remains glued to him.
Pit stops begin for the Chinese GP
The carousel of the begins pit stop and it's Hamilton the first of the top teams to stop and then everyone follows in cascade except Norris e Leclerc who enter two laps later. To be noted the great overtaking di Or with against Kimi Antonelli which ends up abundantly on the kerb to conclude it and of Russell who with warmer tyres overtakes on the outside of turn 1 Norris who takes it back shortly after. Instead, among the Ferrari drivers Leclerc he manages to stick with Hamilton again and tries to overtake several times, then Lewis is asked to give up the position to his partner but he decides to wait until he is very attached before giving it to him.
McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari very close
Appena Leclerc he frees himself and starts to have a devastating pace and is the fastest on the track, so he manages to get close to Russell and take the DRS. But at this point fails never to sink the overtaking because he loses too much time before the final straight and in the end due to a locking at turn 14 he drops to more than 1 second and begins to struggle. Instead the two McLarens seem to be managing to maintain their one-two
McLaren, Mercedesif Ferrari they are all very close and therefore tyre wear and strategies will be crucial in deciding the final outcome of this Chinese GP. Among the top 5 is Hamilton the only one to stop to protect themselves from the possible arrival of Verstappen. With a new set of hard he can turn more than 1 second faster of those in front but Max in the meantime is also getting closer to Leclerc which must begin to look behind. In fact, it soon becomes clear that Lewis will never be able to reclaim P5 and indeed Leclerc also loses his position to the 4-time world champion with two laps to go.
The conclusion of the Chinese GP
It's a super McLaren one-two with Norris who despite brake problems at the end managed to maintain the position on Russell which closed the top 3 after a superlative weekend. At the foot of the podium we find Max which has passed both Ferrari, whose pace was not at the level of yesterday and his opponents.
Meanwhile behind is Bearman who demonstrated his talent with a series of overtaking moves that led him to enter the top 10. Male, instead, for the Racing Bulls that with a wrong strategy they are unable to exploit the speed of the single-seater. Furthermore tsunoda he is also forced to change the rear wing and therefore closes the race in nineteenth place – at least there is the satisfaction of the 10 points for last position for the Fantamenagers who decided to field him in their team.
