Chinese GP: Verstappen in a league of his own once again

Max Verstappen was uncatchable in the Chinese Grand Prix, the Red Bull taking victory in Shanghai by more than 5.5s from McLaren's Lando Norris who had benefitted from the timing of a safety car to stay ahead of Sergio Perez. Ferrari put in a determined effort to bring Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz home in P4 and P5 respectively, with George Russell doing a good job of managing the tyres on his Mercedes to finish P6 ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso. The race saw two safety cars, the first triggered by a smoky retirement for Valtteri Bottas that left the Sauber stuck in gear by the trackside. Congestion at the restart saw a number of incidents resulting from congestion at with RB pair Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo suffering terminal damage. 2024 Chinese Grand Prix - Race results The grid for the Chinese Grand Prix had a much more familiar look to it than that for the Sprint race on Saturday, with Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez locking out the front row, and Fernando Alonso inserting his Aston Martin ahead ahead of the McLarens (Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri) and Ferrari (Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz). There were only 19 cars on the grid in total with Logan Sargeant starting from pit lane after Williams opted to break parc ferme rules overnight to make changes to the car. As the cars made their way to the start line, there were reports of some light drizzle around Shanghai International Circuit but the official forecast for rain in the race was very low. Even so it added a sense of spice to the occasion as the lights went out and the race got underway. Verstappen led the charge down the long run into turn 1. He cut across Perez to ward off any challenge which gave Alonso the opportunity to snatch second from the Mexican. Elsewhere it was a clean start, with George Russell getting the jump on both Ferraris ahead of him to take sixth. Nico Hulkenberg also got a strong start and inserted his Haas between the two Ferraris; Sainz wasn't having any of that and soon took the place back and Hulkenberg also lost a place to Lance Stroll who was the leading driver on soft tyres amidst a sea of medium runners. At the back, softs had also helped Yuki Tsunoda get the RB ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and the Mercedes was looking no happier today than it had in qualifying as it laboured around in P18, picking off home favourite Zhou Guanyu who had suffered a terrible early phase to his race.despite all the roars of support from the fans in the grandstands. By lap 5, Verstappen's lead over Alonso was already over five and a half seconds. The Aston was having to work its tyres much harder than the Red Bulls fore and aft, and he finally had to yield the inevitable when Perez used DRS to blast past on the inside of turn 6. Alonso then succumbed to Norris on lap 8, but was at least able to prevent Piastri using the opportunity to follow through. Behing Piastri, Russell tried everything he could to hold off an aggressive Leclerc but finally lost out in turn 1 at the start of lap 9 and had to refocus on trying to ahead of Sainz, while Leclerc made quick work of dispatching Piastri through the hairpin for fifth. Tyre degradation meant that those drivers who had started on the soft compound including Stroll, Tsunoda, Zhou, Hulkenberg and Hamilton started their first pit stops from lap 10. The top eight were in no immediate rush to make their stops and Verstappen's lead over Perez was now up to ten seconds, with Norris three seconds further back ahead of Leclerc, Piastri and Sainz who had successfully managed to pass Russell who then pitted for a second set of mediums on lap 12 as Alonso came in for a set of hards, both having worked their initial tyres too hard in the opening laps. There was a surprise move by Red Bull to double stack their cars on pit lane on lap 14, the gap between them allowing the pit crew to service both cars without compromising either. In contrast to the calm Red Bull step there was drama in the Alpine box as Pierre Gasly's car fell off the jack before the rear tyres were properly fitted, with one of the crew getting knocked off his feet. Verstappen came back out in fourth ahead of Sainz, and Perez resumed in sixth, both having switched to hards. That left Norris minding the store with a couple of seconds in hand over Leclerc and Piastri. Verstappen soon swept past Piastri who then pitted on lap 17, and Leclerc didn't put up much of a fight when his turn came. There was a six second gap between Norris and Verstappen but that disappeared in no time and the Red Bull was back in the lead on lap 19. Norris and Leclerc were both yet to pit as yellow flags came out for Valtteri Bottas pulling over with smoke pouring out of the back of the stricken Sauber. There was a long pause before race control finally activated the Virtual Safety Car on lap 22: Norris had just gone past the pit lane entrance when it happened, but Leclerc was able to immediately respond, diving in for an advantageous service to change to hard tyres, with some of those who had made the earliest stops including Stroll and Hamilton following suit. With the track marshals struggling to remove the Sauber which was stuck in gear at the side of the track, Norris was finally able to pit next time around, and he came out still ahead of Alonso and Leclerc. The VSC continued to drag on, and with the need to get the recalcitrant Sauber hoisted away race control had no choice but to switch to a full safety car. That altered the strategic equation for the teams with Verstappen and Perez immediately in with everyone going for for a fresh hard tyres except for Alonso who took a set of softs and Ricciardo had opted for mediums. Verstappen was still in the lead ahead of Norris and Leclerc who hadn't needed to stop again under the safety car. The huge gap that the Red Bull had enjoyed up to now was gone as the field was packed together behind the safety car. Racing finally resumed on lap 27 with Verstappen having no problem managing the restart, but congestion through the final corner packed up the midfield and ended up with Stroll ploughing into the back of Ricciardo which pushed the RB into the rear of Piastri's McLaren in turn, and Tsunoda spinning off following contact with Kevin Magnussen who had been trying to dodge around. Tsunoda came to a stop on the grass with terminal damage, but Magnussen was able to limp back to pit lane despite a puncture. Stroll also came in for running repairs and a new set of mediums. Ricciardo initially stayed out despite suffering floor damage to his car, while the McLaren pit wall informed Piastri that his MCL38 had sustained 'significant' damage. And of course the safety car was straight back out while the marshals picked up the pieces of carbon fibre from the track, before they got the race underway again on lap 32. Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc and Perez held station at the start with Alonso fifth ahead of Sainz, Russell, Piastri and Hulkenberg while Hamilton made quick work of Ricciardo to make it into the top ten. The compromised RB continued to plummet down the order, easily passed by Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon even before a gang of cars streamed past. Ricciardo bowed to the inevitable and headed to pit lane to retire, leaving Stroll and Magnussen battling for last place on track as if their lives depended on it, not remotely discouraged by ten second penalties for both of them for their part in causing the second safety car. Verstappen had already shrugged off his pursuers and was rapidly out of DRS range of Norris and Leclerc by lap 35, while Perez was throwing his efforts into passing the Ferrari for the podium and not too concerned by anything Alonso might be doing behind. Perez finally pulled off the move on lap 39 but he found it harder to hunt down Norris. Meanwhile Alonso's soft tyre gambit had run out of life, and the Aston dropped out of the top ten after pitting again for mediums on lap 44. However the fresh tyres made it easy for him to dispatch Albon and Ocon and scramble back into the points a few minutes later, and then make equally short work of catching and passing Hulkenberg and Hamilton for P8 despite a scare dabbing his rear wheel onto the gravel at the end of lap 49. Alonso also had no trouble passing Piastri who was clearly struggling with the damage to his car. But that left him over 11s away from his next target (George Russell) and the laps rapidly ran out before be could get anywhere close, although he did snatch the bonus point for fastest lap in the process. There was no doubt about the winner, with Verstappen cruising to victory with a comfortable margin over Norris and Perez, meaning that Leclerc and Sainz missed out on the podium but were still comfortably ahead of Russell and Alonso at the line. Norris made his only mistake of the afternoon by driving down pit lane after the chequered flag rather than heading to the grid for the celebrations, while Zhou Guanyu stole the show with a heroes welcome from the crowd having finished in 14th. Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter The post Chinese GP: Verstappen in a league of his own once again appeared first on F1i.com.