Hello welcome to the Chinese Grand Prix wrap-up, the second race of the season saw Lewis Hamilton go from the highs of a debut pole and win in the sprint for Ferrari to disqualification from the Grand Prix. Meanwhile, McLaren underlined their status as the team to beat in the Grand Prix, despite a difficulty in the sprint format, could this weekend be the warning that we need to expect the unexpected in 2025?<\/p>\n
Practice saw Lando Norris set a 31.504 going nearly half a second faster than Charles Leclerc. Leclerc put himself in between both McLaren\u2019s going nearly two-tenths ahead of Oscar Piastri, but the Melbournian ran wide on his final attempt which left him six and a half tenths off his teammate. Lewis Hamilton had a much more positive start to the weekend going fourth<\/p>\n
Sprint Qualifying saw Hamilton take his first pole position for Ferrari, as he went two hundredths faster than Max Verstappen. Piastri put his McLaren third going seven hundredths behind Verstappen, as he went a tenth faster than Leclerc. Piastri had taken provisional pole but was beaten by both Hamilton and Verstappen, while a mistake on his SQ3 runs cost him the opportunity to fight for pole<\/p>\n
Sprint saw Hamilton take a dominant six-second victory after pulling away from Piastri allowing him to manage his tyres and take his seventh win in any format in Shanghai weekend. Hamilton won the start and soon pulled away creating a seven-second lead after the nineteen-lap sprint ahead of the McLaren and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen by almost three seconds<\/p>\n
GP Qualifying saw Piastri beat George Russell by eight hundredths to take a maiden Grand Prix pole. The McLaren driver looked like the driver to beat with both his laps in Q3 setting a 30.641 and looked on form-taking pole despite the gusty conditions in Shanghai. Teammate Lando Norris aborted his final run after he made a mistake in the middle sector.<\/p>\n
Piastri beat his teammate Lando Norris with a dominant nine-second win the Grand Prix, driving a calm and controlled race at the front to take the team’s second win of the season. Piastri never really looked under any pressure only losing his lead to Norris during the pit stop, as he drove a solid race.<\/p>\n
Norris, meanwhile, was unable to challenge his teammate in the closing stages and started to drop back after a brake issue, but managed to hang onto second despite George Russell trying to take advantage of the issues for the McLaren. The Englishman until the brake issue had been three seconds behind his teammate, before being instructed to bring the car home without risk.<\/p>\n
Verstappen finished fourth, the Red Bull driver finishing five and a half seconds behind Russell and ahead of both Ferrari\u2019s with Charles Leclerc six seconds behind Verstappen and ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton by just over two seconds. Leclerc drove a great race and managed to hang on despite early damage to the front wing<\/p>\n
Lando Norris has questioned rival George Russell’s “mentality” amid their ongoing debate about McLaren’s advantage over the rest of the field. Last weekend he won a chaotic season opener defined by multiple safety cars and changing conditions, as held off title rival Max Verstappen\u2019s late charge.<\/p>\n
Norris led a one-two from team-mate Oscar Piastri in qualifying that McLaren were so much faster than their rivals that they could already switch their car for next season when new regulations are incoming. Asked post-Melbourne whether his strong performance at Albert Park had made him a clear favourite for the world championship.<\/p>\n
He said: “Let’s see. Max was three-tenths off yesterday. Last year, we were much further off and ended up with the best car by the end of the season. We were over half a second off at the beginning of last year behind Red Bull and ended up with the quickest car.\u201d Norris says they still have a lot of work to do because you can\u2019t relax in F1 as they still have a lot of work to do.<\/p>\n
For the first time, he seemingly admitted that McLaren are the favourites because of the job they did in Melbourne. But the key thing the team and Norris needs this season is consistency and Norris believes is having Piastri pushing him and each other.<\/p>\n
Norris could only manage sixth in sprint qualifying following a rough SQ3 where he messed up his first run and aborted his second run because of a mistake, that left him nearly a second and three-quarters of Hamilton\u2019s pole time.<\/p>\n
Speaking about the mistake at the long Turn Thirteen where he had a snap of oversteer on his second run, Norris said, \u201cI think just throughout the day we\u2019ve been struggling a bit with the front locking and struggling lot in the last corner with the tailwind.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKind of a lot more aligned with Bahrain [testing]. Just a lot windier, and when the wind\u2019s blowing, we struggle a lot more. I think both myself and Oscar [Piastri] struggled more, clearly me more than him. So yeah, just pushing a bit hard to try and make up for not quite being quick enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
The thinking was in Bahrain that the difficult conditions may have masked what McLaren was capable of, but despite not taking pole he thinks the car was in a good window.<\/p>\n
Piastri was \u201cpumped\u201d after finding a burst of pace to take his first GP pole ahead of Russell, despite up until the final runs in Q3 teammate Norris looking to be the faster of the McLarens. He told reporters, \u201cIn Q3 I just found a lot of pace. In Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling and the car just came alive in Q3 – and I think I came alive in Q3 – so I’m happy with what I did at the end, even if the laps were still a little bit scruffy.”<\/p>\n
Hamilton cantered to a first sprint win after enjoying the benefits of clear air to reduce how quickly his front tyres faded. Piastri is hoping he can similarly benefit from a clean getaway to boost his chances of converting his first pole into a third Grand Prix win.<\/p>\n
“That is hopefully going to be a help. I am going to make sure I keep that clean air. But I was pretty happy after the sprint. I think we did the most that we could have. I would have been happier with one spot higher, but with how the race turned out, I couldn’t have asked for much more. I feel like we learned a lot this morning, and looking forward to trying to put that to use tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
Norris was lucky to finish second in the Grand Prix nearly ten seconds behind Piastri as he managed a brake issue in the closing stages forcing him to manage it for seven laps, before becoming \u201ccritical\u201d on the last lap. Norris revealed the team knew about the issue with the front brakes before reporting it over the team radio with seven laps remaining.<\/p>\n
He fended off George Russell who tried to close in and Norris believes that if the race had been a lap longer he would have been passed by the Mercedes, Norris told Sky Sports, \u201cI was lucky to finish the race today which is not something you want to be saying. I mean, brakes are something you hate but something you really do need, and they can save you, save your life. So a sketchy last couple of laps, because the brakes were getting worse and worse every lap, and the last couple of laps I’m three or four seconds off, so quite nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the team knew about the problem much before they told me about it, so they wanted to keep me calm. So not good at all from that side because we’re lucky to have finished the race, but to finish with a one-two makes us very happy. It’s what we wanted to come into the weekend with, and it’s what we achieved, so yeah, a very good day for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he could have fought for the win with Piastri, he says while he had the pace to fight for victory getting close in the dirty air has proved difficult this weekend. Norris also felt that he had been behind all weekend compared to his teammate.<\/p>\n
Charles Leclerc says there are two things Ferrari needs to work on after a difficult race last weekend when Ferrari struggled in wet conditions to challenge McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media after Melbourne, Leclerc explained \u201cFor a big part of the race we thought P5 was secured and then the rain arrived and everything changed. It was a tough race and there are things we have to review and work on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t the fastest out there but in such weather conditions, there was a chance of scoring some big points which we didn\u2019t capitalise on today. I lost a few positions after the spin at Turn 11. In the end, it wasn\u2019t that bad, with the Safety Car that came out later on, but then we stopped a lap too late to switch to inters, losing positions again.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think Ferrari made mistakes in its strategy and was caught out by conditions, then the communication between the team and drivers was poor leading to them making the wrong calls. But it felt like \u2018here we go again\u2019 Though Ferrari are making progress in that area, there is still progress to be made with Hamilton suggesting the car was difficult to drive.<\/p>\n
Hamilton did however add \u201cI’m just grateful I kept it out of the wall because that’s where it wanted to go most of the time. A lot to take from it and just getting acclimatised with the new power unit in the wet conditions. The settings it requires are different, and a different way of driving and a different set-up on the steering wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton was shocked as he took his first pole position in sprint qualifying for Ferrari, days after the difficult race in Melbourne the six-time Shanghai winner took pole by just under two hundredths from Verstappen.<\/p>\n
He told reporters, \u201cI didn’t expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud. “Obviously, the last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car, but we just weren’t able to extract it. Coming here, the car really came alive from lap one. We made some great changes. The team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready.<\/p>\n
“I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe we actually got a pole in the sprint. It’s not the main race, so we’ve got work to do for tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the race. It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car. It’s pretty incredible.\u201d When watching his interview you could see how shocked he was to take pole, but I think despite last weekend the pace was there to fight further up in qualifying.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in sprint qualifying, Leclerc could only manage fourth after he struggled in the snaking opening three corners. Speaking to the media after the session he said, \u201cI struggled on my side of the garage. From the beginning, I felt like I was a step back compared to Lewis and Lewis was just faster today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI struggled a lot in Turns 1, 2 and 3, which is more or less the same struggles I had as last year so that’s a bit of a shame but apart from that, everything was quite tight. Obviously a shame we start P4 but Lewis is on pole and hopefully we can have a good race together tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was also summoned to the stewards for allegedly exceeding the maximum time delta between Safety Car lines, but decided there would be no further action and didn\u2019t drive \u201cunnecessarily slowly\u201d as he didn\u2019t impede another car nor gained a sporting advantage.<\/p>\n
Hamilton credited the changed between practice and sprint qualifying with his maiden Sprint win for Ferrari though he was unable to repeat his performance in Grand Prix qualifying. Asked if it was due to other teams making a improvements or Ferrari losing performance somewhere, the British driver explained, \u201cWe made a couple of changes to the car after sprint qualifying to rectify some problems we had. And I don’t know if it’s with the wind, but the car became quite snappy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: “I think the lap wasn’t the cleanest at the end, and I should have been a couple of tenths further up, or a tenth at least, so we’re not terribly far away, but not ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton says he still thought going into the Grand Prix they could make performance improvements and highlighted there were multiple overtaking opportunities, however, it did appear more challenging in the sprint than expected. He warned that tyres would be key in the race, thinking he could make up places if he gets a good start.<\/p>\n
I think this has been a very good recovery from last weekend hopefully they have learned from the communication issues in Melbourne, Hamilton admitting it would take time to build with Adami.<\/p>\n
Hamilton and Leclerc both had a strong race, despite struggling on tyres in the grand prix, finishing fifth and sixth six seconds behind Verstappen and twenty-three seconds off the lead with Hamilton two seconds off Leclerc. However both were later disqualified for being underweight and plank wear, costing the team eighteen points and dropping them to fifth in the constructors.<\/p>\n
In their meeting with the stewards, the FIA confirmed Ferrari “acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team”.<\/p>\n
Hamilton had struggled to get the tyres to work which forced the team to ask him to switch with Leclerc during the middle stint then put the seven-time champion on a two-stop strategy. This ultimately proved the wrong call as Hamilton was never able to close the gap back to Verstappen, who later overtook Leclerc to finish fourth.<\/p>\n
Vasseur was naturally disappointed with the result at Shanghai, saying the team needs to collectively do a better job in the coming races. Vasseur said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to finger-point someone, or to blame something. We have to do a better job, also. We have to understand that we all have the same tyres. It\u2019s always on the edge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw in the race that sometimes Max was struggling, then coming back, then struggling. As soon as they are not in the right window, it is much more difficult.\u201d Pirelli had said the predicted strategy for the race was a two-stop because it went a step softer on tyres and the circuit had been resurfaced.<\/p>\n
Due to the sprint weekend format, teams hadn\u2019t completed any running on hard tyres in practice, and as such they were not aware how it would perform on track. As it turned out, the hard tyre was far more durable than had originally been expected, prompting most teams to change their strategies mid-race.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen says there are \u201ca lot of unknowns\u201d going into the Chinese Grand Prix, last weekend in Melbourne the four-time champion surprised with what he described as a \u201cdecent starting point\u201d qualifying third and finishing second less than a second behind Lando Norris.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media ahead of the first sprint weekend in Shanghai they cited one uncertainty heading into the weekend. He said, there are \u201ca lot of unknowns, I would say, of course, this is quite a different layout and we have different, new tarmac here now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verstappen wanted to focus on their own car because that is the only thing they can control, as he looks to find more performance. The Dutchman appears aware that there are lot of \u201cdifferent areas\u201d they need to come together to \u201cunlock a little bit more pace.\u201d He appeared happy with the characteristics but admitted they need to be more all-rounded.<\/p>\n
Following sprint qualifying advisor Helmet Marko said they were concerned that tyre wear would prevent them from making the front two rows. Verstappen was sixteenth and Liam Lawson eighteenth in practice, which was a surprise even though we know they run in lower power modes there still is a big gap.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman still looked some way off in SQ1 and SQ2, but in the top ten shootout he pulled a lap out of the bag that netted second, and was just under two hundredths off sprint pole set by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Marko told Motorsport.com, \u201cIt was much better than expected. We were really worried about being able to make the first two rows. They changed several things on the car, which obviously helped as well, and then a mega lap from Max.”<\/p>\n
Expanding on Red Bull’s practice woes, the Austrian said: “It was very tricky. We were not in the top six, and the tyre wear was horrendous. So, I hope tomorrow we can see the speed for the whole distance, but this was a very positive surprise. We hope that with these changes the tyre wear will also dramatically improve. The sprint is nineteen laps, which is quite a lot, but we feel positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the sprint and qualifying Verstappen said he was worried that Red Bull had slipped to fourth. In the sprint the Dutchman had struggled to keep up with Hamilton despite starting alongside him on the front row then in GP qualifying struggled to find an improvement on his final attempt in Q3.<\/p>\n
When asked if Red Bull is now the fourth-fastest team in F1, he replied: “That’s what it feels like for me at the moment. I’ve been feeling really good and relaxed in the car, also in qualifying. I’ve been able to maximise it, but it’s just too slow.”<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cLast year we also had a lot of tyre degradation here on the fronts, but now it’s a bit more extreme. But it’s clear we’re just not in a very good position, especially compared to McLaren but also the other teams.”<\/p>\n
Asked if he was still aiming for a podium, he said: “I don’t even want to think about that right now. The Ferraris starting behind me also looked quicker in the sprint. Our tyre degradation [in the sprint] was better [than FP1] but still not good enough and, if you’re talking about a full race distance, that means you’re dropping back quite far.<\/p>\n
Following the race where on track they were beaten by McLaren and Mercedes, team principal Christian Horner confirmed despite the trend of a lack of pace continuing from the second half of 2024 they would continue to develop the car. He told Sky Sports, \u201cIt’s race two. You can’t be that defeatist. I mean we’re 8 points behind in the drivers’ championship after two races, and there’s everything to play for, and if nothing else, last year teaches you: you can start as strong as you like, it’s how you finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve got great strength and depth in our team. Everybody in the company knows we’ve got a bit of pace to find and you know, we’ve got the tools, we’ve got the people in order to do that. It’s just unpicking it.\u201d Horner also said they had the tools to turn around their form.<\/p>\n
But you have to say this weekend has revealed the current limitations of the RB21, with the racing driver finishing third in the sprint and fourth in the Grand Prix. While the Dutchman is able to extract some performance from his machinery, team-mate Liam Lawson is struggling massively.<\/p>\n
Kimi Antonelli says he was \u201csurprised by the level of intensity” required to stay with the front-runners during his first F1 race in Australia last weekend. The Mercedes driver recovered from sixteenth to finish fourth in Melbourne despite the conditions and damaging his car after going wide.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media in Shanghai, Antonelli said, \u201cDefinitely, for a first race they were not the easiest of conditions. I’m not going to lie, at the start, I was a bit nervous, because I started at the back in the rain, and things can happen, but it was a good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat really surprised me was the level of intensity that I have to keep in order to perform and be able to stay with the front-runners. It’s all so intense. As a driver, you want to be on the top of your game, you want to be [up] there, you want to be fast.\u201d Antonelli was the youngest driver to score on debut in F1.<\/p>\n
George Russell was overjoyed after qualifying second taking his first front-row start of the season, he missed out on pole by just over eight-hundredths of a second following his late improvement in Q3. While Antonelli was eighth just over two hundredths behind \u00a0Isack Hadjar.<\/p>\n
Speaking afterwards, Russell said: \u201cIt feels incredible, to be honest. It was one of the hardest Quali sessions I\u2019ve done in a long, long time and I was trying all sorts with my preparation, with the tyres and nothing seemed to be clicking, and did something totally different on my last lap and it just all came alive. The lap was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last one was a bit of a roll of the dice, then I had a big moment at Turn 1 but it just all came together and I was really surprised when I crossed the line.\u201d \u00a0But he knew going into the session that it would have been up there with the McLarens.<\/p>\n
Antonelli seemed similarly keen to progress through the field, especially after his mighty debut last weekend in Melbourne that saw him cross the line in fourth place.<\/p>\n
The Italian explained after Qualifying, \u201cI think the pace today was good for a single lap \u2013 it\u2019s just [that] it was a bit messy, especially with the warm-up. It was really hard to find the right balance and get the best grip out of the tyre. Definitely [made] some mistakes as well during the lap. I think also the fact [that I went] off in the last corner in Q3 and not having the lap compromised the last run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Doohan was given four penalty points on his licence following a collision in the sprint race with Gabriel Bortoleto and for forcing Isack Hadjar off while trying to retake a position in the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Doohan started the season last weekend with his future looking uncertain after Renault-owned Alpine signed Argentine Franco Colapinto, who raced last year for Williams, as a reserve on a multi-year contract. In his post-race media briefing he said, \u201cIt was unfortunate to receive the penalty that we did, and we will revisit it to ensure it does not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
To wrap up a miserable weekend for Alpine, Pierre Gasly was disqualified from eleventh place when his car was found to be underweight. Gasly was the third driver excluded from the race for being underweight along with both Ferrari\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Gasly said in the teams de-brief \u201cIt was a tricky race out there today and again, like last week, we finished eleventh and just outside of the points. Unfortunately, after the race, a technical infringement meant we faced a DSQ. In terms of the actual race, though, I think the degradation probably caught most teams out by surprise in the race as it was much lower than expected and the one-stop proved doable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doohan added \u201cIt was good to complete a full race distance in the car this weekend. There were plenty of learnings to take from the race. Our pace was positive, especially towards the end of the race, and it was nice to be in amongst a few good battles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe showed some of our potential in racing conditions in keeping Isack [Hadjar] in the RB behind for more than 20 laps, especially considering their speed all weekend. It was unfortunate to receive the penalty that we did, and we will revisit it to ensure it does not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was a tough race for Alpine they will be feeling as if they could have got more out of that race. It has been a better start to the season than they expected in Sakhir but its going to be tight this season and no one can afford this season as it is very tight across the entire field. They look to be punching above their weight given they were expecting to be the slowest team following testing. The plank issue<\/p>\n
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has praised the team for the double points finish in the Grand Prix as \u201camazing,\u201d following the struggles a week ago in Melbourne where they appeared to have the slowest car. Esteban Ocon was seventh and Ollie Bearman tenth which became fifth and eighth after both Ferrari\u2019s were disqualified, in Melbourne, they had finished thirteenth and fourteen slowest of the classified finishers.<\/p>\n
Komatsu told F1TV, \u201cIt was an amazing reaction from the whole team. Australia was a shock to us, not something we were expecting based on Bahrain testing \u2013 but, man, what a reaction. Everybody \u2013 people in Italy, the UK, US, and trackside, working together within the space of several days\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly I’m so happy with the way we’ve been working since that shock to get the result here. Everyone has a failure, right? But failure shouldn’t define you. What defines you is how you get up from that failure \u2013 and I think as a whole team we showed that.\u201d It\u2019s a big but surprising turnaround given the \u2018fundamental aerodynamic flaw\u2019 they found in Melbourne because of the slow and medium-speed corners.<\/p>\n
But Shanghai is similar to Sakhir where in testing the team was strong in testing where most corners are slow or medium-speed, with camber changes thrown in to try to provoke mistakes. It was also a good drive by Bearman with a long opening stint allowed him to pull off a one-stop after being knocked out in Q1.<\/p>\n
He told Sky Sports, \u201cwasn\u2019t expecting to do a one-stop, I was quite shocked when we went on to mediums, It\u2019s the type of track which on paper is good for our car. It\u2019s very smooth, not many bumps, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking for at the moment. We\u2019d smooth all the other ones if we can\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But Komatsu has cautioned this rebound is likely to be circuit-specific, since the car\u2019s aerodynamic issues have yet to be resolved. If they are \u2018baked in\u2019 to the VF-25\u2019s characteristics, then the team\u2019s season is likely to be defined by having to secure maximum gain at tracks that flatter the car.<\/p>\n
Isack Hadjar bounced back from his difficult weekend in Melbourne qualifying seventh for the Grand Prix going over half a second faster than teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who momentarily was fastest. Hadjar, I think needed that after the crash on the formation lap last weekend.<\/p>\n
Following the session, Hadjar was full of praise for the team as he appeared to have truly bounced back from his unfortunate crash on the formation lap of the Australian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
he said, \u201cYesterday already they were on it [and] they gave me a really good car. I made a mistake and today I didn\u2019t, so I finished the job. It\u2019s a satisfying one. I would say the guys ahead are out of reach, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also Antonelli behind for 50 laps \u2013 obviously he\u2019s going to be super hard to keep behind. The guys behind me, I think I have a good chance and I look forward to fighting for points, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d It appears from testing and the opening races that Racing Bulls have a decent midfield car but as we keep saying is very tight in the midfield, but they did score in the sprint.<\/p>\n
The team were also fined for an unsafe release in GP Qualifying when Hadjar was released into Max Verstappen during Q3. While there was no resulting contact, the possible danger warranted a\u00a0 \u20ac5,000 penalty to the Racing Bulls team.<\/p>\n
The verdict from the FIA read: \u201cThe Stewards heard from the driver of Car 6 (Isack Hadjar), the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representatives and reviewed positioning\/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined as follows. \u201cThe driver of Car 6 stated that he followed the instructions of his pit lane representative (\u2018the Number 1\u2019) and came out of the garage when requested to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was slightly late in exiting the garage but in any event, it was clear that the release was late and that resulted in Car 6 being released into the path of Car 1. The driver of Car 1 had to take evasive action to avoid a collision or risk flat spotting his tyres if he braked hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko says the strategy was not good enough in the race, despite Hadjar starting seventh and Tsunoda ninth both finished outside the points in eleventh and sixteenth. Marko believes that they should have tried a one-stop race because they became stuck in traffic and overtaking proved more difficult than expected<\/p>\n
He told Motorsport.com \u201cI would say one stop at least with one car they should have tried, and then we saw once they are in traffic, it’s very, very difficult to overtake. That ruined their race. I think at least for one point would have been possible because they were always with Antonelli, on the same pace. So their strategy people have to really go into it and make sure that the right decisions are done.”<\/p>\n
Tsunoda ran into an issue on the lap forty-eight of the race where his front wing suddenly snapped, forcing him to pit for a replacement.<\/p>\n
This weekend was I think one of mixed fortunes for nearly everyone it was like two different events Ferrari dominant in the sprint format, McLaren dominant in the grand prix format. If we learnt anything it is expected the unexpected, McLaren will remain favourites though given another dominant Grand Prix as they look to victory. Their expected nearest rival Ferrari bruised by the double disqualification.<\/p>\n
Ferrari you have to say still haven\u2019t answered those questions fully from Melbourne but getting that win in the sprint for Lewis Hamilton was the perfect response and one he would have wanted after the difficult weekend a week ago. He is now a Ferrari race winner from the low of disqualification from the race.<\/p>\n
But F1 2025 is close and you never know what will happen, nine teams have scored points in the first three opportunities which means they will have a bigger headache as the season goes on as we have a big regulation change in 2026. How long will McLaren\u2019s dominance last and with yet another challenging circuit in Suzuka next will they give us a better picture<\/p>\n
How fitting in a week when we lost charismatic legend Eddie Jordan that F1\u2019s smallest team Haas scored a double points finish thanks to a strong drive from Ollie Bearman to tenth. There maybe a long way to go but we are shaping up for one of the all-time classics. We will be back next Sunday with This Week, and then onto Suzuka another different challenge for the teams.<\/p>\n
\nSprint Pole Position<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n\nFerrari \n01:30.849<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n | Sprint winner<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n\nFerrari \n30:39.965<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n | Race Pole Position<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n\nMcLaren \u2013 Mercedes \n01:30.641<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n | Grand Prix Podium<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n | Po<\/h6>\n<\/td>\nName<\/h6>\n<\/td>\nNat<\/h6>\n<\/td>\nTeam<\/h6>\n<\/td>\nTime<\/h6>\n<\/td>\nPoints<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n1<\/td>\n | Oscar Piastri<\/td>\n | AUS<\/td>\n | McLaren \u2013 Mercedes<\/td>\n | 01:30:55.026<\/td>\n | 25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 2<\/td>\n | Lando Norris<\/td>\n | GBR<\/td>\n | McLaren \u2013 Mercedes<\/td>\n | +00:09.748<\/td>\n | 18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 3<\/td>\n | George Russell<\/td>\n | GBR<\/td>\n | Mercedes<\/td>\n | +00:11.097<\/td>\n | 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Fastest Lap<\/td>\n | Lando Norris<\/td>\n | GBR<\/td>\n | McLaren \u2013 Mercedes<\/td>\n | 01:35.454<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | Championship Standings<\/h4>\n
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