F1 Chinese GP 2024: Max Verstappen CRUISES to victory, Lando Norris takes home with a valiant P2

Max Verstappen put in another dominant drive as he cruised to his and Red Bull Racing’s fourth win of the season in five races by dominating the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix 2024. Verstappen with this win registered his first ever F1 victory at the Shanghai International Circuit. Lando Norris and McLaren surprised everyone on a circuit they were supposed to struggle at as the Papaya driver managed his race excellently and came home to take a podium place with P2. 

While the race was a bit chaotic with two safety cars, Max Verstappen like always managed avoid all the drama behind him and put in another spotless drive. Despite starting slow during the race start, Verstappen fend off Fernando Alonso and his Aston Martin in the first and never really looked back post that. Max Verstappen has now extended his lead in the Formula 1 Drivers World Championship to 110 points. Red Bull Racing are in total control of the Formula 1 Constructors World Championship.

Norris' Surprising Podium

Lando Norris quickly overtook Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin as he made that P2 podium spot fixed for McLaren. McLaren and Lando Norris heading into the weekend were a bit concerned as they projected themselves to be slow on race day at this circuit. But as it turned out the Briton drove a splendid race and was voted the F1 Driver of the Day. 

“Surprised, No one was expecting it to have the kind of the race we had today. I was surprised by many things…just wasn't expecting today at all. It's a pleasant surprise but shows the good job team has done today”, said Lando Norris on his P2.

Sergio Perez managed to overtake Ferrari and Charles Leclerc as he came home to take P3 and put both Red Bull cars on the podium places. This marks the first time in F1 2024 season that a team has not finished 1-2. 

Safety Car Mayhem 

Max Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez were both 1-2 in the race when Red Bull called them in for double stacking. Lando Norris took the lead of the race post the double stack by Red Bull. In lap 19 however, Verstappen made quick work of Norris and retook the lead of the race.

The complexion of the race completely changed in lap 21, when Valtteri Bottas had to retire his Kick Sauber due to a mechanical failure. A virtual safety car was called which then turned into a full safety car in lap 23. This prompted both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to pit in the race.

As the safety car eneded, the race unravelled as Kevin Magnussen took out Yuki Tsunoda and his RB. A braking scuffle saw Lance Stroll ram into the back of Daniel Ricciardo. Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll were each awarded 10 second penalties. It went worse for RB as both Tsunoda and Ricciardo were forced to retire. 

Lack of Pace was Ferrari 

Ferrari were expected to be rapid on race day and were tipped to trouble Red Bull today. But as it turned out, both the Ferraris endured a race to forget from their expectations. 

Charles Leclerc finished P4 whereas Carlos Sainz finished P5. Still a decent haul of points. 

The top 10 was rounded out by George Russel finishing P6, Fernando Alonso P7, Oscar Piastri P8, Lewis Hamilton P9, and Nico Hulkenberg occupying the final points spot with P10. 

Special Moment for Zhou

The Chinese GP returned to the F1 circuit for the first time in five years and it meant that for the first time in sport's history, a Chinese driver drove at his home race with Zhou Guanyu. At the end of the race Zhou was in tears as he was cheered on by the crowds.

Here is the final classification of F1 Chinese Grand Prix 2024