Team by team review of the Chinese Grand Prix

Team by team review of the Chinese Grand Prix

The Straits Times - Sports·2024-04-22 06:01

Team by team review of Sunday's Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit, round five of the 24-race championship (listed in current championship order):

RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 3)

Verstappen's fourth win in five races and first in China. The triple champion started on pole -- Red Bull's 100th -- for the fifth race in a row this season and now leads Perez by 25 points, after also winning the Saturday sprint. He now has 58 wins from 190 starts. Perez lined up second on the grid on a two-stop strategy but lost out to Alonso and took five laps to get the place back. Safety car periods then played against him. The podium was his 39th. Red Bull are 44 points clear of Ferrari.

FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 4, Carlos Sainz 5)

Both Ferrari drivers stopped only once, switching strategy when the virtual safety car was triggered, with Sainz doing 39 laps on the hard tyre in the longest stint of all after pitting on lap 17. They had started sixth and seventh on the grid.

MCLAREN (Lando Norris 2, Oscar Piastri 8)

Norris stretched his record as the driver with most podium finishes and still no win. He now has 15, with eight second places. After taking a sprint pole on Friday, the Briton started fourth and led when Verstappen pitted, completing the race with one stop. Piastri had a significantly damaged car after being shunted from behind by Ricciardo, who was hit by Stroll, on the first restart after the safety car. He made two stops.

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