Atypical track conditions, only one free practice session, rain, dry, safety car. These are the variables seen during the weekend in Shanghai, but what on paper could have been possibilities to try to undermine the dominance of Verstappen and Red Bull, turned out to be further assists for the world champion tandem.
Only the sudden rain that arrived in the qualification of the sprint race caught Max a little off guard, otherwise his weekend was without opponents, yet another domination from the heights of absolute superiority. Verstappen no longer even appears in the “driver of the day” rankings, the voting public tacitly considers him to be off the charts. After the first five races of the season, Verstappen already has one advantage in the championship standings over a good Sergio Perez.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
It becomes increasingly difficult to ask Verstappen post-race questions, his solitary rides leaving little to the imagination, but this time it was Max himself who indicated what the biggest problem was of the 56 routes in Shanghai, and his story… says a lot.
“To be honest, I didn't understand why the safety car stayed on the track for so long, I said to myself 'come on, let's go', then we set off again and here it goes back on track, and here too I didn't understand what the problem was. Ultimately we want to run, right? I thought that the safety car would have flattened the race a bit, because in fact it flattens the strategies.”
The world champion's fourth success of the season was also his clearest. “As regards the balance of the car – admitted Verstappen – we did a really good job, we managed to improve the behavior of the car over the three days”.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
To complete a triumphant weekend, Red Bull missed out on Sergio Perez's second place, 'only' third. Checo wasn't particularly lucky to start from the start, when to avoid risking contact with Verstappen he had to give in to Alonso's attack.
“I had to fight quite a bit to get my position back – explained Perez – and this wasn't good for the tyres”. A situation which, thanks to the safety car, he also relived in the second half of the race. “When the race restarted I was behind Leclerc (Charles made one stop less) and in this case too I had to push quite a bit to recover the position. In these phases I asked a lot of the tires, and when I found myself on a clear track Lando was already gone. But there is no other way to overtake an opponent on this track, you have to push the tires and then you end up paying a price.”
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Perez tried to close the gap with Norris in less than ideal conditions, but Lando also had his merits. His second position of honor is a top placing, achieved over the course of 56 flawless laps. At the end of the race he was amazed… his amazement.
“What to say? – commented Norris smiling – I don't know why, but we were faster than we thought. So far, very long corners, like '1' on this track, have always been a problem for us, but in reality we haven't had any problems, and perhaps we've had fewer than our direct rivals. Maybe the rather strange asphalt played a little more in our favor, sometimes it's these details that make the difference.”
One of the downsides of large technical domains (like Red Bull's current one) is that they don't even allow for occasional exploits. A driver like Norris with 'zero' victories is an injustice towards the talent and above all the great growth that has led Lando to be a top driver without the numbers to confirm it. It will only be a matter of time, then the victory will also come and probably much more than one, with a little luck the day he will serve but above all when the single-seater arrives to be able to do it.
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