Formula 1 world championship leader Max Verstappen won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, for the first F1 race in the country since 2019. The Dutchman, who started from pole position on the Shanghai track, won ahead of Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez, third. This is the 58th GP victory for the three-time reigning world champion and the fourth of the season in five races (out of 24). On the other hand, he had never won in China.
Starting on pole in front of full and heated stands for the return of the Chinese GP after five years of absence due to Covid-19, nothing seemed to be able to stop the Verstappen rocket, not even the intervention of two safety cars successive ones shortly before the halfway mark. “The sensations were incredible (…), the car was on rails, I could do whatever I wanted,” rejoiced the Dutchman. Already the day before, the unstoppable “Mad Max” had won the first of the six sprint races planned this season.
Charles Leclerc finishes 4th
Behind him, Norris’ McLaren, which was not expected to perform as well this weekend, gave the British team its best ranking of the year. “I didn’t expect that,” Norris responded upon arrival. “I was surprised by a lot of things – Ferrari’s lack of pace, our good pace, us compared to the Red Bulls…” The Ferraris, which we expected to be at the forefront in China, complete the Top 5 – the Monegasque Charles Leclerc having beaten the Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
In the drivers’ championship, Verstappen now has a lead of 25 points over his runner-up Pérez. Among the French, Esteban Ocon finished close to the points with his Alpine. Eleventh in the race – the team’s best result this season – the Normand arrived in China with a new chassis and a new flat bottom, improvements intended to lift the French team from the bottom of the rankings. His teammate and compatriot Pierre Gasly, who has not yet benefited from these improvements, finished 13th.
Acclaimed by his public since the start of the weekend, Zhou Guanyu finished 14th at the wheel of his Sauber. The Shanghai native, who arrived in the elite in 2022, is the first Chinese in history to compete in Formula 1 in China.