As everyone expected Max Verstappen was the winner of both races at the Chinese Grand Prix, his teammate Sergio Perez only managed P3 in both
We are every day more sure this is another year of Red Bull dominance. Until the teams closer to them like Ferrari or McLaren start bringing upgrades and maybe even catching them on pace for some races. In the meantime, the name of Max Verstappen and the Dutch anthem will remain at the top step of the podium. Especially keeping in mind how Sergio Pérez is still proving to be no competition to Max at any time.
The only driver that proved a bit of a problem for Max on the weekend was 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in the sprint race. The British driver used the tricky conditions to start in the front row and pass Lando Norris who started on pole in the first corner. However, his extremely slow Mercedes did not have the chance to fight the almighty Red Bull. On the contrary, he had the pace to fight the other Red Bull and finish in P2 on the Sprint. Sunday was a whole other story with a P18 in Qualifying and a climb up to P9 in the race.
Verstappen is in another league, Ferrari stays consistent and McLaren is clearly the third car
None of the Ferrari drivers managed to make a top 3 finish for the first time this season. The car was not as close to the top as on previous weekends. Carlos Sainz had a small crash in Q3 and almost got out of it, still managed to get P7 on the grid even with small damage to the car just behind his teammate. Both had already finished in P4 and P5 in the sprint with Charles Leclerc ahead.
McLaren did achieve a P2 in the Feature Race with Lando Norris achieving a podium in front of Sergio Pérez and Behind Verstappen. The team did not expect such a strong pace on this track and still delivered with Oscar Piastri not having such a strong pace but finishing P8 and getting some valuable points for the team.
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton make their experience shine by overperforming their cars
Age is just a number became the realest phrase this weekend. Sprint Qualifying and Sprint race saw 38-year-old Lewis Hamilton Qualifying and finishing P2 in both. The tricky conditions proved strong for the experienced driver and besides a weak Mercedes he delivered the first top 3 finish of the team. The race qualifying with a change of setup saw him in a disastrous P18. The hands of the seven time world champion still managed to finish with a tricky setup on an unbelievable P9 after gaining 9 positions on the race.
Fernando Alonso was not as strong on sprint format but managed a completely out of this world Qualifying on the P3 behind Verstappen and Pérez. Managed to overtake the second Red Bull on the start but the pace was not strong enough to keep it and a not very good race strategy saw him having to show his overtaking skills, finishing P7 and getting the fastest lap.
Some dramatic moments included collisions between Stroll and Ricciardo and Magnussen with Tsunoda
A safety car when Valtteri Bottas had a mechanical failure and had to retire the car saw a regrouping of cars and a weird move by Stroll had him crashing Ricciardo on the braking on one of the last corners. The collision was heavily commented and has sparked, yet again, the conversation about Lance Stroll being on a good enough level to stay in Formula 1. Also making the viability of the Aston Martin project be questioned. It is without a doubt a serious project with a winning perspective in Fernando Alonso but Lance might be a setback when it comes to winning a constructors title.
The restart had another incident when Kevin Magnussen tried to overtake Yuki Tsunoda and crashed making him spin. Nonetheless, Haas managed to get another car in the points with Nico Hulkenberg achieving an extremely important P10 which moves them further away in the standings from Williams, Sauber, and Alpine and a bit closer to RB in the standings. The battle for just one point is turning out to be the closest we are seeing this season. Haas and RB are the only teams having points on that battle, it will certainly come to the battle for upgrades for Haas and RB to stay in that position. and fight each other. Alpine, having scored podiums last year and being an engine manufacturer team could maybe rebuild from the ashes.
Next race in Miami will also be a sprint race
With fans understanding a bit more the Sprint format now that it has been put into practice the same will be repeated for the next Grand Prix in Miami. Ferrari even has plans of running a special blue livery for the weekend and maybe some other teams might want to do the same thing.
The Miami track has proved to be, like almost every other place in the calendar, a Red Bull territory. This might change if the rumored upgrades Ferrari is expecting come earlier than Imola.
Guillermo Lorenzo Manzano
