Verstappen remains unopposed, the Safety Car playing off Alonso and Sainz

Two weeks passed between the race in Japan and the race in China. However, the story is pretty much the same at a distance Max Verstappen and Red Bull. The Dutchman dominated from start to finish with insulting authority over the rest of the Shanghai circuit. Qole, sprint victory and race victory on Sunday. Round GP, again. Lando Norris He used strategy to take second place while Sergio Perez closed the podium.

As for the Spaniards, the timing of the two Safety Cars coming out in the middle of the race ruined a big chance. For Fernando Alonso came too early while for Carlos Sainz it was too late. The Ferrari driver had just changed a tire and was one of the non-entries and ended up on the canvas in fifth place. On the other hand, the sa Aston Martin He didn’t have the new hard rubber and he played a different strategy where he finished seventh. At least Fernando had the joy of adding an extra point for fastest lap.

At first Fernando Alonso was amazed. While Verstappen was not afraid to stay in first position, the Asturian took advantage of his wake to make an incredible pass on the outside of Checo Pérez and put himself in second. A great maneuver that, however, was not used much, because on lap 5 the Mexican, with a clear superiority over the Red Bull, regained the position.

In fact, two laps later Lando Norris also took advantage of the better pace of the McLaren compared to the Aston Martin to pass the Spaniard and place fourth. Behind, Leclerc produced another good outside for George Russell. Those from Maranello went badly, giving both the Monegasque and Carlos Sainz two places. That is why they were forced to return.

Key demotion

The first tire change came soon. Hamilton and Stroll, who started on soft rubber, went through the pit lane on lap 10. The degradation was very high, more than expected, and those in front did not take long to change tires either. Alonso and Russell pitted on lap 12 and the Spaniard put on the hard rubber to extend the second stint. The Red Bulls were so tired that on lap 14 both Verstappen and Pérez started to change at the same time. There were no problems and they shot to regain the first two places.

The most stretched on starting rubber are the McLarens and the Ferraris. Piastri got into 16th while Sainz stretched a tire in 18th When the Spaniard from Ferrari was trying to recover positions he had a big scare Strolling braking, due to the very fast that speed of 1.41 with the hard ones, departed from Russell. fifth place.

[+] The Chinese F1 GP in images, the classification and this is how the general classification remains

Two Safety Vehicles appeared in a row

Leclerc and Norris continued unabated when on lap 21 Valtteri Bottas’ machine was stranded between sectors two and three, before the bank. Both the Monegasque and the British took advantage of this to replace medium rubber for hard, which behaved better on other cars. Instead of losing nearly 22 seconds, they only gave up 15 in the pit lane. Lando then finished third and Leclerc fifth behind Alonso, but with fresher tires.

The stewards had a lot of trouble getting Bottas’ Sauber out and finally the Safety Car appeared There the teams’ plans were interrupted and they went through the pit lane again. The game was perfect for Norris and Leclerc who finished second and third ahead of Pérez. What surprised everyone was Alonso. Instead of putting on the hard rubber to go to the end, Aston Martin decided to put on the soft tires with 32 laps left to go. When everyone went through the pits, the Spaniard was sixth behind Sainz and ahead of Russell.

The race resumed on lap 27 with more contact. The driver overbraked in lane 14 when the race restarted and caught Daniel Ricciardo, who retired moments later. Furthermore, at the front, already competing, Tsunoda and Magnussen also collided on the sixth lap, leaving pieces of the car on the track. The Japanese also retired on a dark day for RB and the Safety Car returned without him even leaving a lap. Normality did not return until age 31.

With Verstappen escaping back to the top, the battle focused on the podium. Leclerc was forced by Pérez who was forced to return after the Safety while Norris set a very good pace with the McLaren in second position. On lap 39, the Mexican launched the RB20 without hesitation at turn six and returned to third place.

While Russell put pressure on Sainz, who had the oldest tire of all because he couldn’t get under Safety, to finish sixth. As for Alonso, the Spaniard kept the soft rubber for 20 laps but that tire was impossible to finish. He had to pit on lap 44 to put on the medium tire and do 12 hot laps to recover from 12th position.

In just three laps the Spaniard from Aston Martin set the fastest lap of the race (1:37.810) and overtook Albon, Ocon and Hülkenberg. Chasing Hamilton on lap 48, Alonso hit the gravel at the finish line and nearly lost the car. He used his excellent handling and salvaged the situation to overtake the Briton on the next lap. By lap 50 he was seventh, more than 11 seconds behind Russell. Too far.

On the front, nothing has changed. Verstappen came close enough to make his debut in China followed by a very solid Lando Norris. Pérez closed the podium with Leclerc and Sainz completing the TOP5. Piastri, Hamilton and Hülkenberg managed to close the points zone.