Oscar Piastri dominates in Shanghai to lead home a McLaren 1-2 - Chinese Grand Prix 2025

Published on 23 March 2025 at 22:28

Oscar Piastri charged to his third Formula 1 victory at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix after beating teammate Lando Norris to the flag. 

Piastri, who took his maiden pole position in Saturday's qualifying, led the Mercedes of George Russell into the first corner to dominate the rest of the Grand Prix. Norris quickly jumped Russell at turn one but was unable to push up to his teammate and fight for the victory. 

At the end of the first stint, Russell successfully undercut Norris to come out just in front of his fellow Brit. However, only a few laps later Norris was able to use his fresh rubber to retake second place from Russell. 

The scarlet Ferraris struggled after opening lap contact between the two drivers caused light damage to Leclerc’s front wing. Leclerc managed to hold on to finish 5th ahead of Hamilton but the pair were later disqualified for an underweight car and excessive skid wear. 

On lap 46 Yuki Tsunoda's Racing Bull had an unusual wing failure on the front straight after vibrations seemingly ripped the main flap from the front wing.  

Further down the grid Haas’ Oliver Bearman performed a brilliant drive to finish 10th from 17th on the grid. Teammate Ocon finished seventh to make it a double points finish from Haas in China.

Reigning champion Verstappen battled hard with Leclerc in the final stages to finish fourth for Red Bull, with teammate Liam Lawson struggling home in 16th. After rumors circulated of Tsunoda potentially swapping seats with Lawson at Red Bull, the pressure is on for the Kiwi to pick up better results. 

Kimi Antonelli finished a solid eighth for Mercedes followed closely by the Williams of Alex Albon. 

It was looking like a promising race for Alpine's Piere Gasly who was fighting up in the mid field, but like Leclerc the Frenchman was later disqualified for an underweight car. Alpine will be looking for a stronger result next race after a difficult start to the season. 

Formula 1 returns for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks time. 

 

Add comment

Comments

There are no comments yet.