Verstappen storms to Chinese GP victory ahead of Norris, Perez

F1’s return to Shanghai for the first time since 2019 served up an incident-packed race featuring two Safety Car re-starts and one Virtual Safety Car period. But Max Verstappen, who also won the Sprint Race on Saturday, kept his cool to pick up another win.

McLaren’s Lando Norris pulled off a one-stop strategy to deny Red Bull another 1-2 finish.

1. Verstappen wins, 13.773 secs ahead of Norris
2. Perez completes podium
3. Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Bottas retire

Verstappen wins incident-packed Chinese GP

After acing the start, it was clean sailing for Verstappen out at front. “It felt amazing,” said Verstappen, who has now won four out of five races so far this season.

“All weekend I think we were incredibly quick. It was just enjoyable to drive every single [tyre] compound as well. [At the] restarts I think we survived that well. The car was basically on rails, I could do whatever I wanted to with it, and those kinds of weekends are of course amazing to feel.”

Norris defeats Perez

An apparent engine failure for Valtteri Bottas on Lap 20 triggered a Virtual Safety Car, which is when Norris took his sole pitstop. Red Bull pitted both of its drivers a few laps later when the Safety Car was brought out, allowing Norris to jump Perez for second place.

Despite a small scare in the closing laps, the McLaren driver held on to the position, finishing 13.773 secs behind Max Verstappen.

The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz also opted for a one-stop strategy, finishing P4 and P5, respectively. But Sainz ended up over 10 seconds behind his teammate, while Mercedes’ George Russell finished sixth.

Alonso charges to P7

Fernando Alonso went for an alternate strategy, taking on soft tyres while most of the grid went onto hards. A late stop for medium tyres dropped him to P12, but he made good use of his fresh tyres to charge up to P7.

Oscar Piastri sustained some damage earlier in an incident that saw Lance Stroll run into the back of Daniel Ricciardo’s RB (for which Stroll was handed a 10-second penalty). But he managed to hold on to P8 ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who had to maneuver his way up the field after his shock exit in Q1. Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg secured the final point for finishing P10.

2024 F1 drivers’ standings

Verstappen now holds a 25-point lead over his teammate Perez at the top of the standings. Leclerc is third overall, nine points behind Perez.

F1 will now head to Miami for another sprint round on May 3-5.

2024 Chinese GP results