Here is what we thought after the second race of the season…
Piastri emerges as Norris’ essential title challenger
Regardless of early struggles in Shanghai, McLaren has confirmed its standing as early-season favorite in the primary race. Nevertheless, the identical cannot be stated for Lando Norris. The British driver had a messy weekend and clearly did not get essentially the most out of it. The dash was significantly poor for Norris, who made life troublesome for himself with a mistake on the primary lap.
It was Oscar Piastri who was the clear frontrunner for McLaren in Shanghai, and with second place on Saturday and victory on Sunday, the Australian has now put himself ready to be Norris’ essential challenger for the title this yr – because it seems more and more unlikely that different groups can catch McLaren.
Piastri lower his deficit from 23 factors to only 10 in China – and with a dominant efficiency on Sunday, he seems like a driver able to problem for the title in 2025.
– Oleg Karpov
Verstappen is true: Pink Bull 4th workforce in F1, however he’s compensating
Max Verstappen was very clear when he confronted the Dutch media after qualifying within the Shanghai paddock. The principle headlines from his session? Pink Bull is the fourth workforce in F1 and Liam Lawson can be faster within the Racing Bulls automotive.
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Verstappen added {that a} podium on Sunday would not be real looking, and he was proved proper. In each the dash and the primary race, Pink Bull struggled massively on the medium tyres. With the exhausting tyres on the RB21, the tempo was a lot better, however nonetheless to not the Dutchman’s liking.
Verstappen believes the true image is worse than it seems, with the world champion squeezing each millisecond out of the Pink Bull package deal. One have a look at the second automotive is sufficient to see how worrying the present state of affairs is, particularly if Pink Bull desires to complete 2025 with a minimum of one world title…
– Ronald Vording
We don’t perceive a lot about Ferrari
Whereas Lewis Hamilton took first place in qualifying and a comparatively simple win within the dash, Frederic Vasseur confessed to Canal+ on Saturday that he “now not understands a lot about racing”, as his drivers solely managed fifth and sixth in qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Picture by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Pictures
After Sunday, it’s exhausting to grasp: Charles Leclerc, who had been struggling all weekend, practically ended the race for each SF-25s when he made contact together with his team-mate within the first nook and broke a big a part of his entrance wing.
So we thought his race was going within the incorrect route… However ultimately it was fairly the alternative: regardless of a lack of “20 to 30 factors” in aerodynamic effectivity, Leclerc had by no means appeared so comfy and fast, to the extent that he needed to swap positions with Hamilton – much less spectacular than on Friday – to offer him an opportunity to catch Russell! After which he was later caught by Verstappen…
Briefly, after Melbourne, Ferrari’s actual efficiency (with out harm) stays a little bit of a thriller.
– Fabien Gaillard
It isn’t all unhealthy for Haas
Haas’ first laps of the 2025 F1 season on the Australian GP had been so unhealthy that workforce boss Ayao Komatsu was stunned to seek out that nothing was damaged on the automotive. After qualifying final there, the workforce recognized a elementary difficulty that might see them caught behind the grid – however the solar got here out for the workforce in China.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Workforce
Picture by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Pictures
Ocon got here shut to creating Q3 on Saturday and held on for factors within the race, ending seventh forward of a Mercedes.
Maybe essentially the most wise strategy is to attend a number of extra races earlier than defining the pecking order in an especially tight midfield the place it is nonetheless unclear which workforce is backside. In China it was Sauber, however the seek for the backmarker continues…
– Jose Carlos de Celis
Alpine caught out by FIA’s stricter flexibility guidelines?
Alpine had proven good tempo at each the Bahrain take a look at and Melbourne, however China was a special story for the Enstone-based outfit, as neither Pierre Gasly nor Jack Doohan had been in a position to progress from SQ1 and Q1 within the qualifying periods for the Chinese language Grand Prix.
Whereas the race appeared higher with Gasly in P11, what has modified in every week? The FIA’s stricter rear wing flexibility rule change. Alpine racing director Dave Greenwood confirmed that the workforce needed to make some last-minute modifications to make sure they complied with the discount in rear wing flexibility.
Requested on Saturday if the rule change was the explanation for Alpine’s drop in tempo at a monitor that options one of many longest straights on the calendar, Doohan was light-hearted: “Fortuitously I am the motive force, not the engineer”. He’s most likely proper, because it seems just like the workforce should do some behind-the-scenes work for Suzuka.
– Federico Faturos
Pictures from Chinese language GP – Race
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