Max Verstappen's dominance was on full display at the Chinese Grand Prix, with the reigning world champion shrugging off two mid-race safety cars to win by six seconds over Lando Norris, with Sergio Perez third. Ta.
Sauber loses the power of Valtteri Bottas and requires VSC, Lance Stroll collides with Daniel Ricciardo on the restart, Kevin Magnussen eliminates Yuki Tsunoda and marshals while a second SC occurs could not remove his car, so the VSC, which became a safety car, was deployed.
Max Verstappen extends championship advantage with fourth win in 2024
There was pre-race drama at Aston Martin after Fernando Alonso broke the right side of the floor on his way to the grid. His mechanics worked hard to complete the repair with minutes to spare.
They looked like they did a good job considering Alonso's great start. The Spaniard raced off the line to take second place ahead of Sergio Perez, with the pair running behind pole sitter and race leader Max Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton's other Mercedes dropped to 19th as Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc pushed Carlos Sainz further, giving up the position to George Russell, but he overtook Zhou Guanyu to regain 18th place. . Daniel Ricciardo dropped four places, but Yuki Tsunoda moved up three places, with his RB teammates running 15th and 16th.
Perez regained second place on lap five, passing Alonso on the inside at Turn 6, and McLaren informed Lando Norris that Alonso was overworking his tires to stay in front of Perez. Norris caught Alonso on lap seven and used DRS to pass Alonso on the inside at the hairpin, quickly taking over the racing line and closing the door.
The power of DRS was evident as Leclerc pounced on Russell at Turn 1 and after three more laps Piastri followed suit, moving into fourth place on lap 12. His next target was Alonso, but the Spaniard pitted, as did Russell, who was also in the pits. Chased by Sainz. Teammate Hamilton stopped two laps earlier and was the first to pit.
There was some pit stop drama as Pierre Gasly tried to exit the pit box before fitting the right rear tire, causing one of his mechanics to fall. For an alpine driver, he dropped to 20th with a 19-second stop.
On lap 14, Verstappen and Perez pitted from first and second place, with Norris and Leclerc promoted to the top two. McLaren speculated that Leclerc might be aiming for the first stop, so they kept Norris out. Verstappen overtook Ferrari driver Leclerc, who did not resist the move, and cornered Norris on lap 19 to regain the lead.
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After 20 laps, everyone except Norris and Leclerc pitted and Nico Hulkenberg took the final points, 2-3 behind Verstappen and ahead of Perez, Alonso, Russell, Piastri, Lance Stroll and Sainz. I got into position.
After one lap, the yellow flag waved for Valtteri Bottas' underpowered Sauber, which had been upgraded to VSC, forcing Leclerc to pit, leaving Norris frustrated at not being able to pit. The marshals struggled to dislodge Bottas' car, but as it appeared to be stuck in gear, VSC remained and Norris was able to make a cheap pit stop. Hamilton and Stroll also pitted.
The safety car was brought out on lap 24. Verstappen pitted from the lead, Perez and Alonso also pitted. The running order was Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, Alonso, Russell, Piastri, Ricciardo, and Stroll. Apart from Alonso on soft tires and Ricciardo on medium tires, the top 10 is on hard Pirelli.
There was drama even before the restart, with Alonso locking up as he was bundled up with the leaders, and Stroll getting behind Ricciardo and making contact with Piastri. Then, during the restart, when Haas tried to jump to the inside, Kevin Magnussen and Tsunoda made contact, which in turn caused contact with the RB, causing Tsunoda to withdraw from the race. The safety car backed out. Stroll and Magnussen pitted for repairs, while Ricciardo and Piastri reported damage.
The race restarted on lap 32 and Verstappen quickly fended off a battle between Norris and Leclerc, with Perez and Alonso lining up behind him. Meanwhile, Ricciardo lost position due to floor damage and fell back to 18th place before retiring in the pits. Stroll and Magnussen received a 10-second penalty for causing a collision, while Logan Sargent received a 10-second penalty for a SC violation.
Verstappen led Norris at the front, with Leclerc keeping Perez on the rear wing. Perez finally got going at the Turn 6 hairpin, moving into third place on lap 39. He had a four-second lead over Norris with 17 laps to go. Once McLaren confirmed that Piastri had suffered “significant” damage, Hulkenberg and Hamilton battled wheel-to-wheel for ninth place behind him, with Hamilton taking the position on lap 41.
Heading into the final 10 laps, Verstappen had a nine-second lead over Norris, with Norris four seconds ahead of Perez and Leclerc a further two seconds ahead. Alonso pitted for a third time to change his soft tires to medium, dropping him out of the top 10 and dropping to 12th.
He made short work of Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon, running 10th. Alonso overtook Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Piastri to move up to seventh with five places remaining.
Verstappen took his fourth win of the season by X seconds over Norris, giving the McLaren driver 18 points and a further 25 points towards the championship. Perez finished third, but the Mexican driver lacked the speed to challenge Norris.
Leclerc finished fourth, ahead of Sainz and Russell, and seventh due to Alonso's late pit stop, with the Aston Martin driver also taking the fastest lap point. Piastri, Hamilton and Hulkenberg took points.
result
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
2 Lando Norris McLaren +4.034
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +4.624
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +20.179
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +35.403
6 George Russell Mercedes +32.925
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +37.206
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +47.432
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +51.414
10 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +55.629
11 Esteban OCON Alpine +55.696
12 Alexander Albon Williams +58.065
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +62.402
14 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber +59.542
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +58.768
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas +68.889
17 Logan Sargent Williams +72.155
It didn't end
Daniel Ricciardo RB – Lap 34 – Crash damage
Hiroki Tsunoda RB – 27th lap – Crash
Valtteri Bottas S – Lap 21 – Engine failure
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