Piastri dominates Chinese GP as McLaren takes 50th 1-2

Oscar Piastri led McLaren’s 50th one-two finish ahead of teammate Lando Norris in a straightforward Chinese Grand Prix.

Piastri’s race was won off the line, when he got an equal launch with front-row starter George Russell. He pinned the Mercedes onto the inside line to compromise Russell’s line and then swept into Turn 1 with his lead intact.

Squeezing Russell had the double effect of helping Norris, who qualified third and was able to follow Piastri through around the Mercedes’s outside, snatching second place from the inside line of Turn 3.

The clear air of the lead enabled Piastri to set the pace, a crucial advantage on an afternoon dominated by ultimately unfounded concerns that the tires wouldn’t go the distance on Shanghai’s newly resurfaced circuit.

The medium compound, on which most of the field started the race, was particularly delicate, and the pack kept itself bunched up during the opening stint attempting to reach the first pit stop window.

It took only 10 laps for the first tire changes in the middle of the pack, and the cascade of stops eventually reached the front of the field on lap 14, when Piastri switched his mediums for a set of hards along with Russell.

Norris followed on the following tour, but the undercut effect was powerful on the far more durable hard compound. He slipped behind not only Russell but also the slower Lance Stroll, who at that stage was yet to pit.

It took Norris until lap 18 to get back past both – he needed a big lunge down the inside of Turn 1 to beat Russell – and a pass on the out-of-position Alex Albon got him back into second place on the following lap.

By then, however, Piastri’s lead was just under 4s, and with tire management still thought to be crucial to get the hard tire to the finish, the gap remained stable until the final 10 laps, when Norris began to take small bites out of his deficit.

His progress stalled, however, by a lengthening brake pedal. Though his team advised him that his brake function hadn’t been compromised, he was told to limit his brake pressure to avoid the problem getting worse.

Having already done the hard work in qualifying and the opening stint, Piastri skipped to a 9.7s victory, the third of his career.

“It’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish,” he said. “The car’s been pretty mega the whole time.

“Super proud of the whole weekend. This is what I feel like I deserve from last week.

“The team did a mega job. Very, very happy.”

Norris hemorrhaged time on the final lap as his brake problem became “critical” holding onto second place by only 1.3s, but the Briton was happy to make it home to complete the team’s third one-two finish since 2010 and its second in as many seasons.

“It’s my worst nightmare,” he said of his brake problem. “When I have a nightmare, it’s when the brakes are failing.

“I was a bit scared, but we survived and we made it to the end.

“I would’ve loved to have given it a little bit of a try and put Oscar under a little bit of pressure, but not today.

“We’re satisfied. Great result.”

Russell completed the podium at the end of a clean and quiet grand prix to consolidate Mercedes’s second place on the title table.

“It’s a great result,” he said. “We knew McLaren were a smidge quicker than us.”

Max Verstappen’s late pass on Charles Leclerc for fourth was a rare highlight in a race bereft of passing at the front.

Verstappen lost places to both Ferrari drivers on the first lap, and though his Red Bull car lacked podium pace, studious conservation of the tires after the first pit stop gave him a grip advantage late in the race with which he reeled the scarlet cars back in.

Sprint winner Lewis Hamilton pitted out of Verstappen’s way, but Leclerc stayed out to try to defend his position.

It forced the Dutchman to get creative. On lap 53 of 56 he swept around the Ferrari’s outside into the first turn only to find Leclerc on the outside line in Turn 2 to protect the inside line at Turn 3.

Verstappen darted the opposite way, where his grip advantage allowed him to maintain his momentum on the outside line of the left-hander and take the position exiting Turn 3.

Leclerc finished fifth as the faster Ferrari driver despite carrying a broken front wing after light contact with Hamilton on the first lap.

Hamilton, the only driver to stop twice in the top 10 and one of only five in the entire field, finished sixth.

Esteban Ocon was an excellent seventh for Haas after pitting early, on lap 11, and then rising through the field with a well-judged long stint on the hard tires.

He beat Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Williams veteran Alex Albon to the place.

Haas rookie Oliver Bearman completed the top 10 after completing a contrastrategy starting on hards and ending on mediums, cutting through the midfield late to score the final point.

Pierre Gasly finished 11th ahead of Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson.

Jack Doohan was classified 16th after serving a 10s penalty for running Hadjar off the road at the hairpin, putting him ahead of Sauber teammates Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda, who finished last of the finishers in 19th after his front wing spontaneously broke apart down the front straight on lap 45, forcing him to make an unscheduled third pit stop.

Fernando Alonso was the race’s only retirement, stopping on lap 4 with a brake issue.