Verstappen’s Double Top In Shanghai

Formula 1 returned to China this weekend after a five-year break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and following today’s Grand Prix in Shanghai, it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who dominated on his way to the victory spoils, having also won yesterday’s shorter opening Sprint event of the season. It’s no wonder that the Dutch/Belgian reigning champion is very much the most in-demand driver in current Formula 1, given his outstanding ability and incredible consistency.

With this fifth round of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship also including the first of six Sprint races this year, it was an opportunity to experience the improved timetable, which included an opening free practice session and Sprint qualifying on Friday, the Sprint race and a subsequent qualifying hour for the Grand Prix yesterday, and of course the main event itself today. This seemed to make so much more sense than its predecessor last season, with a much better flow. 

Formula 1 has also recently revealed its 2025 calendar, which is set to feature the same 24 Grand Prix destinations as this year and will follow a fairly similar pattern. One notable change, though, is that the timing of Ramadan next year means that the season will not start in the Middle East but in Australia on March 16th, with Melbourne not having hosted the opening round since 2019. This is, of course, the moment when Sir Lewis Hamilton will make his race debut for Ferrari, something that will no doubt receive massive attention worldwide. This year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone is set to take place on July 6th before being scheduled for just a day earlier next season.

Red Bull has made it clear that the seat is Pérez’s to lose and that it is in no hurry to make decisions about its line-up for 2025..

.Before we turn to the ontrack action in Shanghai, let’s just pause to reflect on the current state of the driver market for next year and 2026, when F1’s new regulations are introduced. Rarely have we seen such a fascinating situation so early in a season, triggered, of course, by Hamilton’s shock decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the current campaign and by the offtrack machinations at Red Bull. Starting with the latter, Red Bull has triple champion Verstappen under contract until the end of the 2028 season, unless a small number of potential break clauses become relevant. In contrast, Sergio Pérez’s contract with the team expires this year, and the Mexican is hoping for a new deal to be agreed upon shortly after making a decent start in 2024. However, he did just this last year before his form dropped noticeably, and he was somewhat fortunate to still be in the car as the season neared its close. Red Bull has made it clear that the seat is Pérez’s to lose and that it is in no hurry to make decisions about its line-up for 2025, even if other teams are looking to attract drivers sooner rather than later.

With Carlos Sainz being dropped to make way for the arriving Hamilton alongside Charles Lecler, everything seems clear for Ferrari in 2025. It’s interesting though that, leading up to China, Sainz has performed noticeably better than either Leclerc or Hamilton, no doubt spurred on by wanting to leave people questioning if Ferrari has made the right decisions about its 2025 line-up. McLaren, third in the Constructors’ Championship before Shanghai, seems settled with its Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri pairing in the short term at least, but never say never in the renowned F1 Piranha Club.

Sergio Pérez’s contract with the team expires this year, and the Mexican is hoping for a new deal to be agreed upon shortly after making a decent start in 2024...

This leaves the struggling Mercedes team needing to replace the departing Hamilton, and its likeliest options for 2025, if Verstappen opts to stay with Red Bull, seem to be Sainz and Alex Albon if they choose to buy him out of his Williams contract for next year or take a risk with its 17-year-old rising star Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian teenager has real talent, and he and his parents are close friends of the Mercedes team principal, CEO, and part owner, Toto Wolff, with Andrea’s father having given him his middle name in honour of a certain Kimi Räikkönen. Antonelli completed his first private F1 test for Mercedes a few days ago, driving a 2021 spec car around Austria’s Red Bull Ring for 500 kilometres, with more testing to follow.

The current Sauber team will become the works Audi entry from 2026 onwards, and the leading car manufacturer is looking to sign up a strong duo, with Sainz appearing to be at the top of its wish list and with the equally experienced German, Nico Hülkenberg, in its sights too. Red Bull has indicated that it too has been in discussions with Sainz, but has declared that it cannot even match, let alone beat, the financial offer he has received from Audi.

Also on the driver front, a recent press release from the Aston Martin team dropped into my inbox, revealing that the veteran Spanish driver, Fernando Alonso, had agreed to a multi-year deal to remain with the Silverstone-based operation, driving for them for at least the next two seasons, followed by an ambassadorial role. His decision to extend his stay at Aston Martin will have been influenced by owner Lawrence Stroll’s ambitious plans for the future and also by potential limitations with regard to any possible move to Red Bull or Mercedes.

Turning to ontrack matters in Shanghai, on arrival everyone noticed just how black the new track surface appeared to be, something that was down to a liquid bitumen coating applied last year to reduce degradation of the existing asphalt. However, circuit usage has led to varied levels of grip around the track, a factor that the teams and the Pirelli tyre supplier had been unaware of in advance. With only a single hour of practice before heading into Sprint qualifying, the Friday session was crucial for the teams and drivers as they sought to reacquaint themselves with the circuit. It had to be paused briefly for a small grass fire on the inside of Turn 7 to be dealt with, and, come its conclusion, somewhat surprisingly, it was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who topped the timing screens, with McLaren’s Piastri and the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Pérez the best of the rest. With the Ferraris only 13th/14th and the Mercedes cars 17th/18th, it was clear that the practice period had provided few clues as to what may follow.

The subsequent qualifying hour to determine the grid for yesterday morning’s Sprint race was a dry-to-wet affair, with another small fire igniting at Turn 7 before rain forced the crucial top-ten shootout phase to be run on intermediate tyres rather than the grippier dry-weather alternatives. McLaren’s Norris opted for a high-risk “go for it” strategy, and it paid off as he claimed pole position, with the wet conditions helping Hamilton to make it an all-British front row and with Alonso and Verstappen set to line up just behind them.

Verstappen never looked challenged and claimed a 100th pole position for Red Bull, with Pérez the best of the rest, albeit over 0.3 seconds adrift of his team-mate

.At the start of the Sprint race, Hamilton made a better getaway than Norris and found himself in the lead by Turn 3, with the McLaren driver dropping to seventh. Soon Verstappen moved past Alonso into second place, and, following a mistake by Hamilton, the Red Bull team leader usurped him to head the field. The reigning champion went on to extend his lead over second-placed Hamilton by a second and a lap, reaching the chequered flag 13 seconds clear. To their rear, Pérez helped himself to the final podium position after an entertaining battle with Alonso and the two Ferraris. After some contact along the way, it was Leclerc who finished fourth ahead of Sainz, and Alonso faced retirement after picking up a puncture and damage following a collision with his fellow countryman. This incident also earned the veteran Spaniard a ten-second penalty and three further points on his racing licence for causing an avoidable accident.

Further drama followed during the subsequent qualifying hour for today’s Grand Prix when Hamilton, fresh from his Sprint podium finish, could only set the 18th quickest time in Q1 and was quickly eliminated, meaning he would have to start today’s race from the next to last row on the grid. Q2 was interrupted by red flags after Sainz had lost control of his Ferrari at the final corner, but he managed to coax it back to the pits and survived to take part in the top-ten shootout, posting the seventh-best time. Aston Martin later tried to get Sainz disqualified from the qualifying results after his ontrack stop and restart under his own steam, but the stewards rightly dismissed Aston’s attempt. Meanwhile, Verstappen never looked challenged and claimed a 100th pole position for Red Bull, with Pérez the best of the rest, albeit over 0.3 seconds adrift of his team-mate. Alonso helped himself to third on the grid, followed by the pair of McLarens and the two Ferraris, with the Mercedes of George Russell completing the top eight starters.

With a 19C air temperature and only a slight chance of rain, there was certainly a raucous response from the enthusiastic crowd as the formation lap for today’s Grand Prix began at precisely 3pm local time (8am back in the UK), and, come the race start, it was Verstappen who made a great start to lead the pack towards the opening righthand sweep. Alonso made an even better one though and tore round the outside of Pérez into second place, while Russell quickly usurped the squabbling Ferrari duo to claim sixth position. Significantly, Verstappen was 1.6 seconds clear of Alonso at the end of the opening tour, already taking him out of DRS range. However, Pérez fought back, and on lap six, the Mexican regained second place up the inside at Turn 6, if already over five seconds behind his team-mate. Just one tour later, Norris claimed third from Alonso. Soon Leclerc was making progress within the top six before Red Bull had the confidence and even perhaps audacity to double stack Verstappen and Pérez for switches from medium to hard compound tyres.

...Alonso created some late excitement after charging through the field following a further stop for fresh medium tyres

.As the race progressed, Norris led from Verstappen, but the likeable McLaren driver had yet to make a pitstop, and before he did, the Red Bull driver passed him anyway to regain the lead. A Virtual Safety Car intervention followed after Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber had ground to a halt, and both Leclerc and Norris benefited from “cheap” pitstops. However, it was proving difficult for the marshals to move the stricken car, and a full Safety Car period followed. This triggered further stops for both Red Bulls to take on more hard specification tyres.

We had a clean restart at the front of the field when racing resumed, but the same could not be said of those behind them as Stroll collided with Ricciardo’s RB and Kevin Magnussen’s Haas hit the RB of Yuki Tsunoda, leaving the Japanese driver’s car stranded and forcing a second Safety Car appearance. Come the restart, Verstappen led the way, and Norris was soon out of DRS range, with Pérez sweeping past Leclerc down the inside at Turn 6 on lap 39 to move up to third position. Norris, though, was able to manage the potential threat from Pérez, and Alonso created some late excitement after charging through the field following a further stop for fresh medium tyres. The Spaniard was to finish seventh, setting the fastest lap of the race and earning an extra point for doing so.

Verstappen maintained his dominance as the chequered flag neared, and Norris and Pérez enjoyed the post-race podium celebrations with him. To their rear, Leclerc, Sainz, and Russell completed the top sextet of finishers, and a struggling Hamilton battled away to ultimately cross the line in ninth place.

As soon as the ontrack action in Shanghai was completed, it was time for everything to be packed away as quickly as possible, with attention turning to the next round on this year’s calendar in just a fortnight’s time, namely that in Miami, Florida, with a further Sprint race and Grand Prix pairing. This left team members, including drivers, to leave China as soon as possible for their European bases before heading further west to the USA.

2024 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix

1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1hr40m52.554s
2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +13.773s
3 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) +19.160s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +23.623s
5 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +33.983s
6 George Russell (Mercedes) +38.724s
7 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +43.414s
8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +56.198s
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +57.986s
10 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) +1m0.476s
11 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +1m2.812s
12 Alex Albon (Williams) +1m5.506s
13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1m9.223s
14 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) +1m11.689s
15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1m22.786s
16 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1m27.533s
17 Logan Sargeant (Williams) +1m35.110s
18 Daniel Ricciardo (RB) Retired
19 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) Retired
20 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) Retired

2024 Formula 1 Chinese Sprint

1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 32m4.660s
2 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +13.043s
3 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) +15.258s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +17.586s
5 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +20.696s
6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +22.088s
7 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +24.713s
8 George Russell (Mercedes) +25.696s
9 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) +31.951s
10 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +37.398s
11 Daniel Ricciardo (RB) +37.840s
12 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +38.295s
13 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +39.841s
14 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +40.299s
15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +40.838s
16 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +41.870s
17 Alex Albon (Williams) +42.998s
18 Logan Sargeant (Williams) +46.352s
19 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) +49.630s
20 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) Retired

2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship

1 Max Verstappen 110
2 Sergio Pérez 85
3 Charles Leclerc 76

2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship

1 Red Bull 195
2 Ferrari 151
3 McLaren 96