Apart from the free practice and sprint qualifying, Max Verstappen is sovereign this weekend. In the sprint race, Verstappen cut through butter like a hot knife. Later that day, Verstappen also took pole position, proving that he was also the fastest over one lap. Anyway: the teams were allowed to work on the set-up after the sprint race, which could have improved the competition's settings. Will this get Verstappen into trouble or will it be the Verstappen show again?
Start of the Chinese GP
Verstappen keeps the lead and immediately dives to the inside of the corner. He is followed by Pérez who sees Alonso coming alongside before the first corner. Alonso gains more speed from the outside in the first corner and passes Pérez. The Red Bull driver can join in and continues to put pressure on Alonso.
In the meantime, Verstappen apparently easily drives away from the competition. After the first lap the gap is 1.6 seconds and in lap four the difference is already four seconds. Pérez remains within one second of Alonso, which means he can use DRS. Lando Norris, who drives behind Pérez, cannot keep up with the pace, but McLaren doesn't mind that. Norris is told to save his tires, because the team expects Alonso to push his rubber to the limit.
Pérez takes back P2 and Alonso falls back
Alonso had to give up in the fifth round. Pérez takes more speed from the first three corners and slides past the Aston Martin after the short straight. Then Pérez sees an empty hole in front of him. Verstappen has already pulled away from his teammate by six seconds. But Pérez doesn't get any pressure from behind either. Alonso cannot keep up with the pace and sees Norris quickly approaching. On the seventh lap, Norris easily passes the AM for P3.
On lap 14, first Verstappen and in the same lap Pérez comes in for fresh rubber. Both cars go to the hard tire. Verstappen has Piastri, Leclerc and Norris in front of him, but within five laps those three competitors are also overtaken. It is childishly easy for Verstappen. On the new hard tire, Verstappen is two or three seconds faster per lap than the rest.
A late VSC becomes a safety car
Verstappen's progress is halted by Valtteri Bottas. His Sauber gives up the ghost and ends up next to the track. The marshalls wave the yellow flags for a lap, but it does not seem to be a virtual safety car. Leclerc and Norris, who have not yet stopped, are waiting for the VSC to arrive, but that takes a long time. Ultimately, the race management decides to call a virtual safety car.
The cars that have not yet stopped are now coming in. But then it turns out that the marshals cannot simply get rid of Bottas' car. The car is still in gear and it is almost impossible to move. To buy some more time, the physical safety car is sent onto the track. As a result, Verstappen and Pérez also decide to change tires. That goes very quickly. Verstappen's stop takes 1.9 seconds, Pérez's stops in 2.0 seconds.
Lance Stroll blunders on restart
The safety car goes in and Verstappen can set the pace. Just after the hairpin bend, Verstappen steps on the gas and immediately opens a gap to Norris. Far behind them, Lance Stroll is sleeping. He sees just beyond the end of his nose and steps on the gas while the cars in front of him have not yet gone that far. Stroll crashes into the back of Ricciardo, who is lifted from behind. Stroll comes in immediately for a new wing. Ricciardo has floor damage after the bounce. Later, Stroll receives a ten-second penalty.
The race now continues, but not for long. Kevin Magnussen dives on the inside of Tsunoda, but the Haas driver does not continue his attack. Thanks to Magnussen's half-baked work, his left front wheel hits Tsunoda's right rear wheel. The Racing Bull goes into a spin and the tire comes loose from the rim. Magnussen is penalized with a ten-second penalty. The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series safety car is sent back onto the circuit so that Tsunoda's car can be safely recovered.
We'll try another restart
With 25 laps to go, Verstappen can lead the field again. Once again Verstappen goes on the gas when accelerating out of the hairpin bend. The gap before Turn 1 is already eight tenths and after two laps the difference is even two seconds. Norris in turn participates and drives two seconds ahead of Leclerc. Shortly behind is Pérez, who is about one and a half seconds ahead of Alonso.
Alonso is the only one driving on the soft tire. He achieved that with the first safety car. You would think that he would easily drive towards the cars in front of him on hard tires, but that doesn't happen. He drives consistent times, but his soft tires don't last until the end. That is why Alonso switches to a new set of medium tires with twelve laps to go. He falls to twelfth place.
The end of the race is the Alonso show
In the meantime, Pérez has passed Leclerc for third place and is gradually driving away from Leclerc. But eyes are mainly focused on Fernando Alonso. On his new tires he easily passes his competitor and sets the fastest lap. At the end of lap 48 of 56, Alonso is right behind Hamilton. When turning from start to finish, Alonso ends up a bit too wide and hits the gravel trap. The rear slides away, but Alonso catches it well.
Hamilton was spotted not much later and Piastri also had to deal with it on the 49th lap. Russell is then eleven seconds ahead of him and with six laps to go, that gap seems too big. And that turns out to be the case. Alonso is up to six seconds behind Russell. At the front, Verstappen cruises to his 58th victory in F1 and drifts briefly in the final hairpin bend. He is thirteen seconds ahead of Norris and eighteen seconds ahead of Pérez. Next up are the Ferraris and Russell. Alonso finished seventh and took the extra point for the fastest race lap.
F1 in China: Results of the 2024 Chinese GP
- Verstappen
- Norris
- Pérez
- Leclerc
- Sainz
- Russell
- Alonso
- Piastri
- Hamilton
- Hulkenberg
- Ocon
- Albon
- Zhou
- Gasly
- Magnussen
- Stroll
- Sargeant
- Ricciardo – DNF
- Tsunoda – DNF
- Bottas – DNF
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