Oscar Piastri hailed his “mega” McLaren after leading from pole to win the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of teammate Lando Norris.
The cool-headed Australian bounced back from the disappointment of his spin in the closing laps of the season-opener in Melbourne a week ago in the perfect manner as he took his third career grand prix win. From the moment he fended off George Russell’s Mercedes at the first bend, Piastri was in total control for all 56 laps around the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit.
Norris darted past from third on the grid at the same turn and the two McLarens then sped away, leaving Russell alone for most of the race to take his second third-place finish of the season. It made it two grands prix victories out of two for McLaren after championship leader Norris won in Melbourne.
It was the team’s 50th one-two finish in their long history. Only Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who beat Piastri to pole and chequered flag in the Shanghai sprint race on Saturday, denied McLaren a clean sweep.
“It’s been an incredible weekend, the car has been pretty mega,” said Piastri, 23, after McLaren made a one-stop strategy work to perfection. “Very, very happy. The hard was a much better tyre than everyone expected so to go all the way to the end was a bit of a surprise, but a happy surprise.”
Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen snatched fourth place after a thrilling late pass on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Hamilton came home sixth behind his teammate after being the only one of the top six runners to make a second stop. Norris had to cope with a late brake issue which forced him to settle for second rather than launch a challenge on his teammate.
“I was lucky. Lucky to finish the race today and that’s not something you want to be saying,” said a relieved Norris, for whom the finish line came just in time. “Brakes are something you hate but something you really do need and it can save your life,” he added. “Sketchy last couple of laps because the brakes were getting worse and worse every lap. And the last couple of laps I’m three or four seconds off. “So quite nervous.”
The Briton leads the championship after two race weekends on 44 points from Verstappen on 36. Russell is on 35 with Piastri closing in on 34.
Russell was delighted with third place.
“The car has been great this weekend and probably one of my best weekends in Formula One in terms of performance, so really pleased with that,” said the Englishman. Both Ferraris passed Verstappen, who started fourth, on the first bend. But the four-time world champion showed all his race craft and experience to nurse his tyres to perfection, biding his time. He was closing on Hamilton when the Englishman pitted for a second time and then had saved enough performance to run down Leclerc, sweeping back past the Ferrari with two laps to go.
“I suddenly picked up tyre grip… where others maybe plateaued a bit more,” said Dutchman Verstappen, who is chasing a fifth consecutive world championship.
“The first half of the race was quite tough but we set out to do our own pace.” Haas were much improved from Melbourne, where they ran 13th and 14th, finishing with two cars in the points as Esteban Ocon came seventh and rookie Ollie Bearman 10th.
The other points scorers were Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli in eighth with Alex Albon ninth in his Williams on his 29th birthday.
The third round of the season is the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on April 4-6.