Verstappen cruises to easy victory in chaotic Chinese GP; Norris keeps Perez behind to secure second place

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen dominated the first Sprint Weekend of the Formula 1 season, winning the Sprint race on Saturday despite starting from 6th on the grid on that day, and then dominating Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix for an easy win at the Shanghai International Circuit. Starting from his accustomed pole position for the GP after bettering his teammate Sergio Perez in qualifying, Verstappen never really faced any challenge to his supremacy in Formula 1’s first race at this tricky and very technical track since 2019. Despite two lengthy Safety Car periods erasing his lead and allowing his competitors to pit cheaply, Verstappen restarted and drove away each time from the point without anyone else getting a sniff. In the end, the Dutch master claimed victory well over 13 seconds ahead of the P2 McLaren of Lando Norris. So long as his RB20 stays healthy, it’s hard to see how Verstappen doesn’t win his fourth Drivers’ title on the trot even though we are only five rounds into this planned 24-round season.

Fernando Alonso nails it at the start 💪

Watch all the best action from the race in Shanghai 🎥#F1 #ChineseGP

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 21, 2024

Norris did very well to come home ahead of Perez after starting from P4 on the grid, utilizing a long 22-lap first stint to overcut Perez, the Red Bull man choosing to only run to Lap 13 before doffing his Medium Pirellis in favor of the Hards. Then, despite pitting a lap later than several other frontrunners during a Virtual Safety Car period brought about to retrieve the stranded Sauber of Valtteri Bottas on Lap 22, the young Briton got a break when a full Safety Car was deployed, as the stricken Sauber proved recalcitrant. With Norris also guaranteed the cheap pit stop his rivals had already gotten, including Perez’s second stop, the McLaren mechanics did superb work on the tire change for Norris to cycle out P2 behind Verstappen. When another Safety Car quickly followed on Lap 27 due to debris from a multiple contacts on the restart, Norris and his pit wall braintrust decided to go for a one-stop strategy and ride his Hard tires to then end of this 56-lap contest. Perez would run his second set of Hard Pirellis to the end, as well, but the Mexican pilot lost valuable track position due to making two stops to Norris’s one, including his first user green flag condition. Perez fought his way all the way back up to P3 but stalled out there and Norris was the race’s runner up, his second podium finish of the season.

Ferrari ended up lacking a bit of pace here in Shanghai but still maximized what could have been a mediocre day, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz running a clean and smart race to finish P4 and P5 respectively. George Russell was the lead Mercedes in P6, while teammate Lewis Hamilton had a good recovery drive to come home in P9 despite starting from way back in P18 after a disastrous Saturday Qualifying. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was undone by his team’s strategic error to switch to Soft tires for his second stop during the initial VSC on lap 22. That decision backfired with the amount for subsequent Safety Car laps and not enough performance advantage to justify the move, necessitating a third stop for Alonso on Lap 44 and a run to the finish on fresh Mediums. The wily veteran was able to fight his way back up to P7 by the time the checkers flew but considering the Spaniard started third on the grid that result still had to come as a disappointment.

The second McLaren of Oscar Piastri suffered rear diffuser damage in a big concertina mash up during the first Safety Car restart and faded to a P8 finish, while Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg scored his fourth point of the year with another decent effort and a P10 result.

Top 10 finishers of the Chinese GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight in Miami, the first of three scheduled Grand Prix to be held in the USA this year. This was the race that vaulted Verstappen past Perez for good last year. Can anyone balk the three-time champ’s race to a fourth consecutive title this time in Florida? I wouldn’t bet on it but hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!