Oscar Piastri won Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, with his teammate Lando Norris finishing second and McLaren claiming a double victory at the Shanghai International Circuit. Mercedes' George Russell completed the podium, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen finishing fourth after a successful manoeuvre at the end. Disqualification intervened in the next standings after several hours.
Piastri, starting from his first ever pole position in a Grand Prix, avoided Mercedes' George Russell at the start, held the lead and began to control the pace, only losing the lead when the positions were shuffled during the pit stops.
With none of the drivers running on hard compound tyres at the start of the weekend, there was a lot of uncertainty as to whether the drivers would have to make one pit stop or two. As it turned out, the hard tyres held up better than most teams anticipated, and Piastri and most of the others opted for just one stop.
"It was an incredible weekend from start to finish. The car was pretty mega the whole time. I think I was a bit surprised today how different the tyres behaved." said Piastri, who lost a good result in Australia last weekend when a rain shower caught him and he slipped on the wet grass.
Behind Piastri, Norris passed Russell on lap 1 to move into second place, but never came close to challenging his teammate for the lead, and had to slow his pace considerably in the last few laps after complaining of a brake problem.
Russell completed the podium ahead of Red Bull's Verstappen, who caught and passed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc with three laps to go.
Leclerc took fifth place after driving almost the entire race with a damaged front wing end fence after teammate Lewis Hamilton's mark on lap 1, but the Monegasque did not appear to suffer, Ferrari even ordering Hamilton to let him go because of his high pace.
Hamilton was the only one of the leading drivers to make two pit stops, but was unable to use the fresher tyres to make a significant impact on the cars ahead and the Briton - who won Saturday's sprint convincingly - finished a lacklustre sixth. But...
Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly disqualified
Sixth Hamilton has been expelled after his Ferrari's rear skid block was found to be below the minimum thickness required by technical regulations, while his teammate Leclerc, who finished fifth, was disqualified for insufficient car weight.
Pierre Gasly's Alpine was also found to be underweight, although the Frenchman finished the race in 11th place and was out of the points.
Ferrari's exclusion means Haas' Esteban Ocon has moved up to fifth, with Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes sixth, ahead of Alex Albon's Williams and Ollie Bearman in the other Haas.
According to the revised result, Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin and Carlos Sainz in the Williams moved up to ninth and tenth respectively.
After two rounds, Norris leads the drivers' championship with 44 points, with Verstappen second on 36 points and Russell third on 35 points.
McLaren leads the constructors' standings with 78 points ahead of Mercedes with 53 points and Red Bull with 36 points.
Hamilton dominated the sprint to take Ferrari's first win
Hamilton's in Saturday's sprint scored Ferrari's first Formula 1 victory at the Shanghai International Circuit with a flawless performance. Piastri, the first Australian to win pole position since Daniel Ricciardo in Mexico in 2018 and the 107th different driver to take pole position in F1 history, finished second in the sprint race. Championship leader Norris finished only eighth.
After 12 years at Mercedes, Hamilton endured a difficult debut weekend for Ferrari in Australia last weekend, finishing only tenth, but attracted attention in Shanghai when he claimed pole position in Friday's sprint qualifying - an achievement the Briton admitted "stunned" him.
On Saturday, something even better came as Hamilton held off an early threat from Red Bull's Verstappen and drove to victory in the 19-lap race, his Ferrari seeming to handle the tyres better than other teams in the Shanghai sun.
Piastri from the McLaren team took his first pole position on Saturday in his Formula 1 career, setting the fastest lap ever at the Shanghai International Circuit. The Australian lapped the track in one minute and 30.641 seconds and was joined on the front row of Sunday's race by Russell after the Mercedes driver produced a thrilling final lap of 1:30.723.
Norris, winner of the opening race of the season in Australia, abandoned his final lap - while Piastri improved his time - to start third, with four-time defending world champion Verstappen of Red Bull fourth.
Ferrari took the third row, Hamilton secured fifth place, 0.286 seconds off pole position after winning the previous sprint, and his teammate Leclerc took sixth.
Piastri claims Chinese ancestry: "They're all here for me!"
Piastri joked that his Chinese heritage meant that spectators came to this year's Chinese Grand Prix mainly to support him over all the other drivers.
Before last year's Chinese Grand Prix, Piastri revealed that he is one-sixteenth Chinese, and he also mentioned his roots during Saturday's press conference after qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit. When asked by a reporter about his origins, Piastri replied: "The 1/16 origin wasn't a joke - it's a fact. It goes back many generations and I certainly don't speak Chinese and I'm not going to embarrass myself. But I've definitely enjoyed coming here a lot more this year. I was able to see a little more of Shanghai. The weather was much more pleasant than last year."
Because Zhou Guanyu This year, there is no Chinese driver sitting in a racing seat, no Chinese driver on the F1 grid for 2025, and Piastri joked that the spectators have pounced on him instead. "All [audience] they're here for me, not Lewis. [to Hamilton]!" quipped Piastri.
Chinese Ferrari reserve driver Zhou shared his observations from training and life in the iconic Italian team, and what it means to be a teammate of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Before the start of the season, Ferrari confirmed that Zhou will serve as a reserve driver for the 2025 season, completing the team's line-up alongside current reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi. The announcement ended all speculation about Zhou's immediate future, especially following Sauber's decision to rotate the driver roster and part ways with both Zhou and teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Zhou stressed the importance of preparation in his new role, saying: "As a reserve rider you have to keep training and be prepared for unexpected chances; I have to stay fit and keep training."
In this capacity, Zhou will be supporting the regular Ferrari drivers as the famous team will field a revamped line-up this year, with Leclerc joining Hamilton.
Reflecting on his new collaboration with Hamilton, Zhou said: "I haven't spent much time with Hamilton in recent years. Now that I'm working with him, he's a very smart driver who will bring a wealth of experience to the team... It's obviously a great honour to work alongside him and I know I can learn a lot from him."
The third round of the 2025 F1 season will be the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on 6 April.
Xinhua/ CMG/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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