F1 Chinese language GP: 5 fast takeaways

This is what we thought after the second race of the season…

Piastri emerges as Norris’ most important title challenger

Regardless of early struggles in Shanghai, McLaren has confirmed its standing as early-season favorite in the primary race. Nevertheless, the identical cannot be stated for Lando Norris. The British driver had a messy weekend and clearly did not get essentially the most out of it. The dash was significantly poor for Norris, who made life troublesome for himself with a mistake on the primary lap.

It was Oscar Piastri who was the clear frontrunner for McLaren in Shanghai, and with second place on Saturday and victory on Sunday, the Australian has now put himself able to be Norris’ most important challenger for the title this 12 months – because it appears to be like more and more unlikely that different groups can catch McLaren.

Piastri lower his deficit from 23 factors to simply 10 in China – and with a dominant efficiency on Sunday, he appears to be like like a driver able to problem for the title in 2025.

– Oleg Karpov

Verstappen is correct: Purple Bull 4th crew in F1, however he’s compensating

Max Verstappen was very clear when he confronted the Dutch media after qualifying within the Shanghai paddock. The principle headlines from his session? Purple Bull is the fourth crew in F1 and Liam Lawson could be faster within the Racing Bulls automobile.

Verstappen added {that a} podium on Sunday would not be practical, and he was proved proper. In each the dash and the primary race, Purple Bull struggled massively on the medium tyres. With the arduous tyres on the RB21, the tempo was significantly better, however nonetheless to not the Dutchman’s liking.

Verstappen believes the true image is worse than it appears to be like, with the world champion squeezing each millisecond out of the Purple Bull bundle. One have a look at the second automobile is sufficient to see how worrying the present state of affairs is, particularly if Purple Bull desires to complete 2025 with a minimum of one world title…

– Ronald Vording

We don’t perceive a lot about Ferrari

Whereas Lewis Hamilton took first place in qualifying and a comparatively straightforward win within the dash, Frederic Vasseur confessed to Canal+ on Saturday that he “not understands a lot about racing”, as his drivers solely managed fifth and sixth in qualifying.

After Sunday, it is arduous to know: Charles Leclerc, who had been struggling all weekend, practically ended the race for each SF-25s when he made contact together with his team-mate within the first nook and broke a big a part of his entrance wing.

So we thought his race was going within the mistaken route… However in the long run it was fairly the alternative: regardless of a lack of “20 to 30 factors” in aerodynamic effectivity, Leclerc had by no means appeared so comfy and fast, to the extent that he needed to swap positions with Hamilton – much less spectacular than on Friday – to offer him an opportunity to catch Russell! After which he was later caught by Verstappen…

Briefly, after Melbourne, Ferrari’s actual efficiency (with out harm) stays a little bit of a thriller.

– Fabien Gaillard

It is not all dangerous for Haas

Haas’ first laps of the 2025 F1 season on the Australian GP had been so dangerous that crew boss Ayao Komatsu was shocked to search out that nothing was damaged on the automobile. After qualifying final there, the crew recognized a elementary concern that would see them caught behind the grid – however the solar got here out for the crew in China.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Crew

Picture by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Photographs

Ocon got here shut to creating Q3 on Saturday and held on for factors within the race, ending seventh forward of a Mercedes.

Maybe essentially the most wise strategy is to attend a number of extra races earlier than defining the pecking order in a particularly tight midfield the place it is nonetheless unclear which crew is backside. In China it was Sauber, however the seek for the backmarker continues…

– Jose Carlos de Celis

Alpine caught out by FIA’s stricter flexibility guidelines?

Alpine had proven good tempo at each the Bahrain check and Melbourne, however China was a distinct story for the Enstone-based outfit, as neither Pierre Gasly nor Jack Doohan had been in a position to progress from SQ1 and Q1 within the qualifying classes for the Chinese language Grand Prix.

Whereas the race appeared higher with Gasly in P11, what has modified in every week? The FIA’s stricter rear wing flexibility rule change. Alpine racing director Dave Greenwood confirmed that the crew needed to make some last-minute modifications to make sure they complied with the discount in rear wing flexibility.

Requested on Saturday if the rule change was the explanation for Alpine’s drop in tempo at a observe that options one of many longest straights on the calendar, Doohan was light-hearted: “Thankfully I am the driving force, not the engineer”. He’s most likely proper, because it appears to be like just like the crew must do some behind-the-scenes work for Suzuka.

– Federico Faturos

Pictures from Chinese language GP – Race