- Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took a comfortable win despite a mid-race safety car
- Lewis Hamilton secured ninth spot following a disastrous qualifying session
- Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll had a race to forget
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen strolled to a comfortable win in the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman took a comfortable victory despite a mid-race safety car, as Lando Norris beat the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez to take second.
The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc, in fourth, and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five, holding off Mercedes driver George Russell and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin in sixth and seventh, respectively.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from his poor qualifying to finish ninth but struggled for pace during the race.
Mail Sport’s Henry Clark assess some of the winners and losers from Shanghai.
Winners
Max Verstappen – 9
A near-perfect weekend for the Dutchman, who extended his advantage in the drivers standings with a convincing win at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Verstappen recovered from a difficult qualifying session to take victory in the sprint race and was then totally dominant for the rest of the weekend.
There may be those tiring of an increasingly predictable outcome to races but Verstappen’s relentlessness should not be scoffed at.
Even after only five races, you feel it is fair to say that it is going to take something extraordinary for this winning machine not to claim a fourth successive world title.
The only reason to score him a nine rather than a perfect ten is the fact he was unable to record the fastest lap of the Grand Prix.
Lando Norris – 8.5
A result that nobody saw coming, not least Norris himself.
Few expected his McLaren to be competitive given the challenges of this track but the Brit produced a phenomenal drive to secure second place ahead of Sergio Perez.
What made Norris’ performance even more impressive is the fact he had to recover from surrendering pole position and finishing sixth in the sprint race to lead the charge for the crown of best of the rest on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton – 6
A tumultuous weekend to say the least for the seven-time world champion.
It started with a reminder of why Hamilton is regarded as one of the sport’s best operators in the wet conditions as he claimed second in sprint race qualifying, a position he managed to hold onto in the main event.
But a disastrous qualifying session on Saturday saw Hamilton start this morning’s race 18th.
It took awhile for him to work his way through the field but a ninth-place finish was ultimately a good return for a race that was all about damage limitation.
That rescue effort just about moves him into the winners enclosure on this list.
Losers
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso – 5
Lance Stroll – 2
There were flashes of brilliance from Alonso in Shanghai but ultimately he will be left disappointed with a seventh-place finish having qualified third.
His result will be particularly bruising given George Russell and Mercedes were able to finish ahead of him.
Team-mate Stroll started the week by going fastest in first practice but that’s just about where the positives finished.
A dozy piece of driving saw him smack into the back of Daniel Ricciardo, an incident which brought a premature end to the Ricciardo’s race and saw Stroll limp home to 16th.
Daniel Ricciardo – 4
Nothing he could do about the shunt from Stroll but this felt like a massive missed opportunity for the under pressure Australian, who looked on course for his first points finish of the season.
There were signs of progress in qualifying, where he out-performed his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda for the first time this season. Sadly, he was unable to make that advantage count due to factors outside of his control.
Carlos Sainz – 6
The Spaniard has rightly earned rave reviews for his performances this season but this weekend proved to be his worst showing of 2024.
Sainz left it late to sneak into Q3 after sending his car for a spin in qualifying and he was unable to find a way past his Ferrari team-mate, Charles Leclerc, in the race.
By no means a disastrous weekend but an underwhelming one by Sainz’s own high standards.
