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F1 Review: Oscar Piastri Dominant In Leading McLaren 1-2 In Heineken Chinese Grand Prix

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Oscar Piastri started from the pole in China and ran away from the start and easily won the Heineken Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday (March 23rd), with McLaren teammate Lando Norris managing a late brake issue to take second, giving the team its 50th 1-2 result. Piastri was never seriously challenged in converting his first F1 pole into his third career victory. George Russell finished third for the second consecutive race, followed by Max Verstappen in fourth and Haas’ Esteban Ocon in fifth. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton initially took the checkered in fourth and fifth but were later disqualified, along with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, for technical infringements discovered in post-race checks.

“It’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish,” Piastri said. “The car’s been pretty mega the whole time.

“Super proud of the whole weekend. This is what I feel like I deserve from last week. The team did a mega job. Very, very happy.”

“I was a bit scared, but we survived, and we made it to the end. I would’ve loved to have given it a little bit of a try and put Oscar under a little bit of pressure, but not today. We’re satisfied. Great result.”

“It’s my worst nightmare,” Norris added of his brake problem. “When I have a nightmare, it’s when the brakes are failing.

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Oscar Piastri Converts 1st F1 Pole to Win in Chinese Grand Prix

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli took sixth, scoring points in consecutive races, with Williams’ Alex Albon, who led briefly in the race, on his birthday no less, finished seventh. Haas’ Oliver Bearman, in eighth, joined Esteban Ocon to give Haas a double-points result and place them firmly in the mid-field battle. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished ninth to salvage points for the team after Fernando Alonso’s early retirement. Carlos Sainz took 10th to score his first points for Williams.   

In the driver standings, Norris leads Verstappen 44 to 36, with Russell a close third with 35 points, just ahead of Piastri with 34. 

In the constructor standings, McLaren leads with 78 points, followed by Mercedes with 57. Red Bull (essentially Max Verstappen) holds third with 18.

The Race

An eventful start saw Piastri hold position while Norris took second from Russell, while Hamilton snatched fourth from Verstappen, who had an unusually terrible start. 

Leclerc suffered slight front-wing damage from contact with Hamilton in the first corner as the two teammates battled for position. Leclerc and the Ferrari team both agreed that Leclerc should continue with the damaged wing, as opposed to sacrificing track position to replace it.

With Piastri and Norris running 1-2 and showing off the team’s pace advantage, McLaren was again in the enviable yet conflicting decision to tell their drivers to hold position or race. Piastri built a comfortable lead over Norris, delaying for now any decision Zak Brown had to make, and the McLaren team principal no doubt exhaled with a sigh of relief. 

Alonso was the first to retire, exiting the race on lap 5 with brake failure.

Just 7-8 laps into the race, many drivers began complaining of tire wear, especially left front tire wear. It was early, but not too soon to say this race would be decided by tire strategy and making quick changes in the pits.   

Rookies Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Isaak Hadjar were running seventh and ninth, respectively, 10 laps into the race, with fellow rookies Jack Doohan, Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, and Gabriel Bortonelo all struggling in the back of the field.

Thirteen laps in, the top six hadn’t changed since the completion of the first lap. Pit stops were imminent for the front runners, and Hamilton and Verstappen were both in a lap 14, both for hard tires.

As the race continued, Verstappen was languishing in sixth and primed for some frustrated and possibly obscene radio communications with Red Bull. With two McLarens, two Ferraris, and one Mercedes ahead of him, and his Red Bull teammate Liam Lawson in 17th, Red Bull could officially say “Goodbye” to a top 3 finish in the constructors championship

Piastri’s lead over his teammate hovered around four seconds, and while the race for the lead lacked drama, there was at least a little drama in seeing if and when Hamilton would comply with team orders to let the faster Leclerc through. Hamilton eventually did, with the only resistance in the form of a few snarky comments to his Ferrari team. 

McLaren radioed Norris to pick up the pace, more to distance himself from Russell in third (to avoid a Russell undercut or a slow McLaren upcoming pit stop) than to close the gap to Piastri, who was cruising towards victory. Norris widened the gap to Russell easily, bumping it up to nearly five seconds. Norris was told that Russell was trying to make it to the end without another stop; Norris did not appear worried.   

Hamilton was the first of the top 6 to make his second stop and pulled in on lap 38 for fresh, hard tires meaning he could push until the end. His target was Verstappen in fifth, who had yet to make a second pit stop or make any impact on the race. Despite his fresh tires, Hamilton made little dent in Verstappen’s advantage.

McLaren was playing the waiting game, delaying any pit action until they could see what the opposition did. Piastri said he could make it until the end on his current tires, and it looked like several other drivers would eschew a final pit stop. 

With the laps dwindling, the biggest drama of the race was a Norris’ front brake issue, which he noticed with about 15 laps left. McLaren instructed Norris to nurse his brakes and, with a near-eight-second lead over Russell in third, had the cushion to do so. 

Verstappen finally overtook Leclerc and his compromised front wing on lap 53 for fourth, adding more disappointment to the Ferrari camp, which would soon grow exponentially after post-race inspections.

Piastri crossed the line nearly nine seconds ahead, with Norris holding off Russell to complete the McLaren 1-2.

The Good

Haas Racing bounced back from a scoreless Australian Grand Prix with double points in China, as Esteban Ocon led the way with a fifth and rookie teammate Oliver Bearman took eighth. Bearman was particularly aggressive and needed to be since he started 17th on the grid and made several highlight reel overtakes in the race’s late stages. 

And if we’re talking rookies, Andrea Kimi Antonelli has lived up to the hype with a sixth in China to accompany a fourth in Australia. His performance, coupled with George Russell’s two podiums, has boosted Mercedes’ hopes in the constructors race. It will be a steep, uphill battle for Mercedes to hang with McLaren and maybe Ferrari when and if they get their act together, but Mercedes has to be thrilled to be where they are. 

And kudos to the entire field for making it through the formation lap without an incident. Sure, I know it wasn’t raining, but it’s refreshing to see the world’s best drivers successfully complete the easiest task of their day by completing a circuit at half speed.  

The Bad

Norris’ inability to string together consecutive strong performances will ultimately cost him in the championship race. In Australia, Norris was near perfect, controlling the race from start to finish even though McLaren’s sizable early-season performance advantage was tempered by Melbourne’s rainy weather.

But in qualifying on Saturday (March 22nd), mistakes forced Norris to abandon his final lap in Q3 and settle for starting third on the grid. And similar mistakes in sprint race qualifying cost Norris points, as he could only manage an eighth in the sprint. I’m not saying Norris would have won Sunday’s race had he qualified second (he likely would have lost to Piastri even without the Q3 mistake; Piastri was that much better), but I am saying that Norris can not leave easy points on the table if he wants to be world champion.

Give me a wet race and cars randomly sliding off the track any day, as opposed to a dull, dry weather processional, which was the case in China. Yes, there was some intrigue, with the “Can Norris make it to the end on failing brakes?” narrative leading the way. However, when the most exciting part of a race was its post-race inspections, you know you’ve witnessed a yawner. 

Can China control the weather, as some have posited? If they can, then they should have sprinkled the race with a little drama.

The “Liam Lawson getting dumped by Red Bull for Yuki Tsunoda” narrative is gaining traction and speed, two things Lawson lacks. Lawson’s most significant accomplishment this season so far is finishing on the lead lap in China, and only finished ahead of Tsunoda because of a late front-wing change for the Racing Bulls driver. The wing damage was through no fault of Tsunoda’s, as a piece on the right of the wing just broke as the Racing Bull sped down the front straight late in the race.  

The change to Yuki Tsunoda seems inevitable, and many expect Tsunoda to be very comfortable in the RB21 once the diminutive yet fiery Japanese driver is cradled like a baby by Christian Horner and dropped into the RB21 after it’s fitted with a booster seat. Red Bull’s treatment of its second driver continues to be a masterclass in neglectful and indifferent management.

Grid Walk Moments

After avoiding the mob of media and fans rushing to see former Kick Sauber driver and Chinese national hero Zhou Guanyu, who may have been handing out resumes, Martin Brundle chatted with Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur, who could add “Man Who Is Never Unhappy” to his many titles, which already include “Ferrari team principal” and “eternal optimist.” I suspect Vasseur would have displayed the same demeanor had Brundle talked to him after the Hamilton and Leclerc DQs.  

Then, in arguably the greatest and/or oddest moment in Grid Walk history, Brundle was lucky enough to stumble upon “Mr. Unicorn,” who’s not just a Chinese social media influencer who wears a unicorn mask, but the Chinese social media influencer who wears a unicorn mask. If you’re wondering “Who the heck is Mr. Unicorn?,” I suggest you ask your children, grandchildren, or if you’re Bernie Ecclestone, your great-great-great grandchildren.

I propose Mr. Unicorn expand his F1 influence and dare any F1 driver to complete the “Mr. Unicorn Challenge,” which is driving a lap at speed at any circuit while wearing a unicorn mask. Or, better yet, I propose Mr. Unicorn moderate a debate between Zak Brown and Christian Horner, with each trying to convince us that the other is the most unlikeable character in F1. Actually, second-most unlikeable, because Flavio Briatore has retired to the clubhouse as the leader in that respect. 

Anyway, Mr. Unicorn told Brundle he was searching for the world’s fastest man. And I imagine he could easily find him. Because if you don’t know who Mr. Unicorn is and you see a person wearing a unicorn mask approaching you, you become the world’s fastest man running away in fear for your life. 

Totally Unnecessary Weather Update

With 10 laps left, McLaren radioed Norris with the message: “Weather update: Class one-half rain on the last lap.” Norris didn’t respond, probably because he was stupefied by the message. What did McLaren expect him to say? “Oh, I guess we should pit on the final lap for intermediate tires, then?” Or, “Wait, there’s a class one-half rain?” 

A better and much cooler message to Norris would have been McLaren warning him of his car’s late issue with the words “Braking news. Lando, you can pump the brakes on your hopes of catching Oscar.”

The Inexplicable

Post-race inspection failures notwithstanding, how was Leclerc, with a damaged front wing, faster than Hamilton, who looked unbeatable in Saturday’s (March 22nd) sprint race? It makes no sense, and Ferrari itself continues its work of making no sense. How does a team go from winning the sprint race on Saturday to struggling to find the speed to keep up on Sunday? The Ferrari rallying cry might as well be, “One step forward, two steps back – right into an open manhole.”

The Driver

Piastri was flawless and left his rivals in the dust, as well as the disappointment from his performance at his home grand prix in Australia a week prior. McLaren has dominated the first two races of the season, and while the 2025 constructors championship seems inevitable, if the season ends without a drivers championship in addition to that, the team will have suffered a huge disappointment. 

If there’s any driver that can crash the McLaren party, it’s Verstappen, who does have a teammate, but not one that’s going to steal any points from him. McLaren’s Zak Brown has the task of maximizing McLaren’s points while at the same time not jeopardizing its drivers championship hopes. It’s an extremely difficult job for Brown, and one he’s likely to screw up. 

It will be fascinating to watch, and will get even more fascinating should Norris and Piastri eliminate each other when racing for position

The Results (Heineken Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai International Circuit)

PosNoDriverCarLapsTime/retiredPts
181Oscar PiastriMcLaren Mercedes561:30:55.02625
24Lando NorrisMcLaren Mercedes56+9.748s18
363George RussellMercedes56+11.097s15
41Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT56+16.656s12
531Esteban OconHaas Ferrari56+49.969s10
612Kimi AntonelliMercedes56+53.748s8
723Alexander AlbonWilliams Mercedes56+56.321s6
887Oliver BearmanHaas Ferrari56+61.303s4
918Lance StrollAston Martin Aramco Mercedes56+70.204s2
1055Carlos SainzWilliams Mercedes56+76.387s1
116Isack HadjarRacing Bulls Honda RBPT56+78.875s0
1230Liam LawsonRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT56+81.147s0
137Jack DoohanAlpine Renault56+88.401s0
145Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber Ferrari55+1 lap0
1527Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber Ferrari55+1 lap0
1622Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls Honda RBPT55+1 lap0
NC14Fernando AlonsoAston Martin Aramco Mercedes4DNF0
DQ16Charles LeclercFerrariDSQ0
DQ44Lewis HamiltonFerrariDSQ0
DQ10Pierre GaslyAlpine RenaultDSQ0
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