China GP : Max Wins, Lando P2

Max had another of those faultless drives, this time in China. Lando gets a surprise P2 and Checo P3

Max wins in China

F1 circus came back to China after 5 years but there was no change in form for Max. Starting from Pole he had another of those effortless drives and took to victory. The safety car restarts did not make much different to Max’s performance, who is on a different planet altogether. No one is even thinking who will win the race. It is all about P2 and down from there.

Checo meanwhile started his race from P2 but lost it soon to Alonso after the first few turns. He got the place eventually. After pit-stops though he had to pass a few cars to get back to the P2 position. He managed to get Russell and Charles but could not move close to Lando as he ran out of tyres. He would be expected to get at least P2 but P3 is not bad either. Checo is fighting for his seat in 2025 and he has some strong competition from Carlos Sainz who is performing very well in Ferrari.

Lando magic in China

McLaren believes that their car is not up to the mark in slow speed corners, which China has a lot of them. As per Lando they expected to be behind Ferrari by at least 35 seconds. However reality was very different. Lando was right on the mark in the first and only practice session and got Pole for the Sprint qualifying. However he lost positions to end poorly in the Sprint. But in the main race he came alive. Lando managed to keep the race pace and nurture the tyres well to ensure that he finished P2. Everyone was surprised and shocked, including Lando and McLaren. His team mate meanwhile struggled on his first outing to China and finished P8. He even got hit from behind by Daniel and has some floor damage.

Ferrari fizzle

Ferrari is expected to be the second best car after Red Bulls but in China they were behind Lando and even Alonso at times. Still Charles finished P4 and Carlos P5. They were expecting some upgrades and hopefully things would be better in the next race in US.

George Russell did a decent job in his Mercedes and finished P6. Lewis had a horrible quali session but did a good job starting from P18 and finished P9. Alonso looked in great form starting from P3. However tyre strategy got the best of him and he had to pit one time extra and make up places. He finished P7. Nico Hulkenburg did a wonderful job in HAAS to get the final point.

China GP Top 10 : Max wins, Lando P2