Dominant Piastri wins Chinese GP ahead of McLaren team-mate Norris

Rhonan Colquhoun 10:45am 23rd March 2025

OSCAR Piastri commanded proceedings at the front of the field as the McLaren driver led home a historic 1-2 finish for the team ahead of Lando Norris to win the Chinese Grand Prix.

Piastri, who's consistent weekend continued after finishing runner-up in the Sprint Race, converted Pole Position into victory with an unchallenged drive.

The Australian fended-off a start-line attack from Mercedes' George Russell to lead into Turn 1 with the McLaren driver squeezing the Brit tight to the apex which allowed team-mate Norris to sweep round the outside into second place.

CONSISTENCY: Piastri has now scored points for a 28th consecutive race weekend (the longest active streak in F1)

Red Bull's Max Verstappen lost out to both Ferrari's of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on the opening lap with the Reigning Champion dropping to sixth. The Dutchman ran a quiet and lonely race before igniting with strong pace in the final third.

A slightly slower than expected pit-stop - with Piastri over-shooting his marks - put the Australian vulnerable to an over-cut but a strong out-lap eased his stress levels.

The initial under-cut proved to be very strong with Pierre Gasly jumping Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda getting the better of Kimi Antonelli. This also aided Russell who jumped back ahead of Norris for second after pitting the lap before his compatriot.

Norris was then able to regain the position with a diving move to the inside of Turn 1. With the first pit-stop phase completed, Piastri lead Norris and Russell while the Ferrari's swapped positions with Hamilton allowing Leclerc to pass by.

Heading into the 56 Lap race, the teams and drivers were undecided on which strategy would lead them to victory. Unconvinced on either a one or two stop race, only three of the 20 drivers started on the Hard compound tyre with the rest on Mediums.

Just before the lights went out, the track temperature continued to cool with it dropping six degrees in the half an hour prior to the race start. The lower temperatures meant that drivers would not suffer as bad as they did in the 19 Lap Sprint race with the majority struggling with front-tyre graining.

This allowed the majority of the drives to commit early in the race to a one-stop race with most switching from the Medium to Hard tyre. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll was the final driver to make his first pit-stop as the Canadian ran till Lap 37 before ditching his well-used Hard tyres.

After being slowly caught by Verstappen who had found pace as the fuel started to wear off, Hamilton opted to pit again and commit to a two-stop which dropped him from fifth to sixth. The Sprint Race Winner had to make up 19 seconds in order to catch Verstappen.

Also committing to a two-stop strategy were the two Racing Bulls of Tsunoda and Hadjar, the pair dropped out of the top 10 and struggled to regain the positions. Tsunoda's race was ruined by a mystifying malfunction on the main straight to his front wing which meant the Japanese driver had to pit again for a new wing.

With his new-found pace, Verstappen, despite being on older tyres, managed to stave-off the attack from the charging Hamilton and instead caught - and then overtook the other Ferrari of Leclerc - to regain fourth place where the Red Bull driver had initially qualified.

Piastri was leading comfortably but the same could not be said for team-mate Norris who had come on the radio and alarmingly reported a brake issue. The Brit was told the issue was "critical" and was asked to take no risks. The McLaren driver managed the problem despite being reeled in by Russell in the remaining laps.

Piastri crossed the line to lead home a 50th 1-2 finish for McLaren with Norris limping home just ahead of Russell. It was also a historic day for Mercedes as Russell's second-consecutive top three finish ensured the team earned their 300th podium appearance.

Verstappen, after overtaking Leclerc, ran out of laps to attempt to catch Russell so settled for fourth ahead of battle-damaged Leclerc. The Monegasque sustained minor damage to this front wing - losing his front-left endplate - after slight contact with team-mate Hamilton at Turn 1 on the opening lap. The Ferrari driver, despite losing up 30 points of downforce, wasn't forced to change his front-wing and claimed fifth ahead of Hamilton.

In a remarkable turnaround for the American team, Haas managed to get both Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman into the top 10 with Ocon the "best of the rest" in seventh and Bearman nicking the final point-paying position in tenth. Bearman put in some lovely overtakes - celebrating the moves over team radio with "ciao" - to climb from 17th on the grid.

CHANGE IN FORTUNE: Ocon and Bearman recorded a double-points finish for Haas despite Ocon qualifying in last for the Sprint Race

In between the Haas drivers came Mercedes' Antonelli - who was awarded Fans' Driver of the Day - in eighth and Williams' Alexander Albon in ninth. The Williams driver briefly led the race on his 29th birthday after starting on the Hard tyre and pitted at the right time to make his strategy work. He claimed ninth and is the first time Williams have scored back-to-back points since Italy and Azerbaijan last year.

Alpine's Gasly claimed a respectable 11th after starting in 16th while Stroll finished 12th - the Aston Martin driver running too long into the race and unable to make his strategy pay-off.

Williams Carlos Sainz Jr claimed 13th while Hadjar settled for 14th after his failed strategy while Liam Lawson continued to struggle despite starting from the Pit-lane after aggressive set-up changes.

Alpine's Jack Doohan finished in 16th while Kick Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and Tsunoda were the last classified finishers albeit a lap down.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was the only retirement from the 56 Lap race with the Spaniard retiring on Lap 4 with fire sparking from his rear brakes.

Norris continued to lead the Championship on 44 points while Verstappen remains his closest challenger in second on 36. Russell's consecutive podium finish ensures he's not far behind in third on 35 points while Piastri's win lifts him to fourth on 34.

McLaren's one-two finish means that they extend their lead with the Woking team on 78 points with Mercedes their closest rival in second 53. Racing Bulls scored their first points of the season in the Sprint Race while Haas's double-points finish means that Alpine are the only team left to score.

Teams and driver's now have a week break before the Japanese Grand Prix which takes place on the 6th of April.