Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took a comfortable victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman took a comfortable victory despite a mid-race safety car, as Lando Norris beat the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez to take second place.
The Ferrari pairing of Charles Leclerc in fourth and Carlos Sainz completed the top five, beating Mercedes driver George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso into sixth and seventh respectively.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from his poor qualifying to finish ninth, but struggled to maintain the pace throughout the race.
Mail Sport’s Henry Clark assesses some of Shanghai’s winners and losers.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen takes comfortable victory at the Chinese Grand Prix
Winners
Max Verstappen – 9
An almost perfect weekend for the Dutchman, who extended his lead in the drivers’ standings with a convincing victory at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Verstappen recovered from a difficult qualifying session to take victory in the sprint race and then was completely dominant for the rest of the weekend.
There may be those who tire of an increasingly predictable outcome in racing, but Verstappen’s relentlessness should not be mocked.
Even after just five races, one feels it’s fair to say it’s going to take something extraordinary to stop this winning machine from claiming a fourth consecutive world title.
The only reason for scoring him a nine instead of a perfect ten is the fact that he failed to record the fastest lap of the Grand Prix.
Verstappen recovered from a difficult qualifying session to take victory in the sprint race and then was completely dominant for the rest of the weekend.
Lando Norris – 8.5
A result that no one saw coming, much less Norris himself.
Few expected his McLaren to be competitive given the challenges of this track, but the Briton put in a phenomenal drive to secure second place ahead of Sergio Perez.
What made Norris’ performance even more impressive is the fact that he had to recover from losing pole position and finishing sixth in the sprint race to lead the fight for the best of the rest crown on Sunday.
Few expected his McLaren to be competitive given the challenges of this track, but Lando Norris had a phenomenal drive.
Lewis Hamilton – 6
A tumultuous weekend, to say the least, for the seven-time world champion.
It began with a reminder of why Hamilton is considered one of the sport’s best operators in wet conditions, as he took second place in the sprint race standings, a position he managed to maintain in the main event.
But a disastrous qualifying session on Saturday saw Hamilton start this morning’s race in 18th place.
It took him a while to work his way into the field, but finishing in ninth place was ultimately a good return for a race that was focused on damage limitation.
That rescue effort almost put him among the winners on this list.
Lewis Hamilton took ninth place after a disastrous qualifying session
Losers
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso – 5
spear ride – 2
There were flashes of brilliance from Alonso in Shanghai, but in the end he will be disappointed with a seventh place finish after qualifying third.
His result will be particularly painful given that George Russell and Mercedes were able to finish ahead of him.
Teammate Stroll started the week fastest in early practice, but that’s where the positives ended.
Some sleepy driving saw him crash into the back of Daniel Ricciardo, an incident that brought about a premature end to Ricciardo’s race and saw Stroll limp into 16th place.
There were flashes of brilliance from Alonso (left) in Shanghai, but in the end he will be disappointed as his team-mate Stroll finished 16th.
Daniel Ricciardo – 4
There was nothing he could do about Stroll’s drift, but this seemed like a huge missed opportunity for the under-pressure Australian, who looked set for his first points finish of the season.
There were signs of progress in the standings, where he overtook RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the first time this season. Unfortunately, he was unable to take advantage of that advantage due to factors beyond his control.
Carlos Sainz – 6
The Spaniard has rightly earned rave reviews for his performances this season, but this weekend turned out to be his worst performance of 2024.
Sainz left late to sneak into Q3 after spinning his car in qualifying and was unable to find a way to overtake Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in the race.
It was by no means a disastrous weekend, but it was disappointing by Sainz’s own high standards.
This seemed like a huge missed opportunity for Daniel Ricciardo, who was under pressure.