Oscar Piastri bounced back from the disappointment of his late-race mistake at last week’s 2025 season opener in Australia by converting pole position into an assured victory during the Chinese Grand Prix – leading home team mate Lando Norris for a McLaren 1-2.
Piastri controlled Sunday’s 56-lap encounter at the Shanghai International Circuit from start to finish, never putting a foot wrong in a much calmer second race of the campaign that centred around whether drivers would complete one or two pit stops.
As it transpired, the first five finishers – and the vast majority of the field – only visited the pits once, with Piastri building and managing a gap back to Norris across their two stints to take the chequered flag and kick off his challenge for the title.
Norris hovered around three seconds behind Piastri in the closing stages, when he encountered a developing brake problem and was told to take no risks by the McLaren pit wall – just about ensuring the papaya outfit emerged with that perfect finish.
After dropping behind at the start, Russell did his best to make life difficult for Norris as the afternoon wore on, briefly reclaiming second during the pit stop phase, but the McLaren man had enough pace in hand to take P2, even with his late brake dramas.
Position
Team Name
Time
Points
1
Oscar PiastriPIAMcLaren
1:30:55.026
0
2
Lando NorrisNORMcLaren
+9.748s
0
3
George RussellRUSMercedes
+11.097s
0
4
Max VerstappenVERRed Bull Racing
+16.656s
0
5
Charles LeclercLECFerrari
+23.211s
0
Max Verstappen predicted a difficult race for Red Bull after their Sprint struggles, and he finished where he started in fourth, a few seconds ahead of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, who dramatically made contact on the opening lap.
Leclerc raced on with a damaged front wing, deciding not to change it in the pits, while Hamilton was the only frontrunning driver to complete a two-stop strategy – a series of fastest laps not quite enough to make up for the time he had lost swapping tyres again.
Esteban Ocon was a brilliant seventh for Haas after their tough start to 2025, followed by the other Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, the lead Williams of Alex Albon and team mate Ollie Bearman, who denied Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll points.
A period of adaptation for Carlos Sainz at Williams continued as he placed 13th, with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar 14th after making two stops and getting involved in a late incident with Jack Doohan, for which the Alpine rookie was penalised.
Liam Lawson took a lowly 15th in his Red Bull, from Doohan, the struggling Kick Saubers of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg and the Racing Bulls car of Yuki Tsunoda, who had to pit a third time due to front wing damage, while Aston Martin racer Fernando Alonso retired early on amid brake trouble.
Race Highlights: 2025 Chinese Grand Prix
After an action-packed couple of days in Shanghai, featuring Hamilton’s emotional first Ferrari victory and Piastri’s breakthrough maiden F1 pole, it was time to prepare for the main event: the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix.
A change to the grid – headed by Piastri, Russell, Norris and Verstappen – saw Lawson move from 20th and last to the pit lane, with Red Bull making set-up changes under Parc Ferme conditions in a bid to help the New Zealander.
F1 tyre suppliers Pirelli predicted a two-stop strategy as the optimal approach for the field, given the increased performance of the ’25-specification cars, and the warm weather experienced throughout the weekend – but how much stint variation would there be?
While that game of chess approached, one man who played it so brilliantly in the past – the inimitable Eddie Jordan – was remembered during a special pre-race moment on the grid, following the Irishman’s sad passing earlier this week.
Shortly afterwards, via potential practice start infringements for Bortoleto, Albon, Tsunoda and Hulkenberg, the grid was cleared and tyre blankets came off the cars, revealing that most drivers be starting on the medium tyres, with Stroll, Bearman and Lawson going for hards.
F1 teams and drivers paid tribute to the late Eddie Jordan ahead of the race
With the formation lap completed in particularly breezy conditions, the five lights switched on and then released the grid away for the 56-lap race – Russell initially attacking polesitter Piastri on the run to Turn 1, only to back out at the apex and get jumped by Norris.
Behind, drama ensued through that sweeping first complex, with Hamilton and Leclerc both managing to find a way past Verstappen, only for the Monegasque to bounce off the Turn 2 kerb, run into the back of his new team mate and pick up front wing damage.
“We have 20 to 30 points loss on the front. If we can survive, we wait for the first stop,” Leclerc was told over the radio. “We can survive,” came his response, as he remained in P5 over Verstappen, Antonelli, Tsunoda, Hadjar and Ocon, who had passed Albon.
Elsewhere, replays showed Bortoleto suffering a snap as he chased Bearman through Turn 7, sending him into the gravel and back to the pits for a fresh set of hard tyres, while Alonso retired his Aston Martin after shouting that “I cannot brake” over the radio.
As the race settled down, Piastri led Norris by just over a second, keeping his team mate outside of the crucial Drag Reduction System (DRS) window, with similar margins developing between the cars behind – Russell still third from Hamilton and the wounded Leclerc.
2025 Chinese Grand Prix: Piastri leads from pole as Norris jumps Russell
Verstappen, meanwhile, was lapping the best part of a second slower than the frontrunners. Was this the best Red Bull could do, after his doubtful post-Qualifying comments? Or was the reigning four-time World Champion simply looking after his tyres in clean air?
At this point, another message from the Ferrari pit wall told Leclerc that they were thinking about “Plan B”. After countering that he wanted Plan A “if it stays like this”, he was told: “There will be too much traffic, so we stick to Plan B.”
Gasly was the first driver to pit for new tyres under normal circumstances on Lap 11 with a move to hards, triggering plenty more swaps in the middle of the pack next time around – Tsunoda managing to jump Antonelli thanks to a powerful undercut.
When it came to the frontrunners, Hamilton and Verstappen were the first to make a move, also taking on the white-marked hards, while Piastri, Norris, Russell and Leclerc continued, along with Albon, Stroll, Sainz, Bearman, Lawson and Hulkenberg.
“I think it’s going to go one stop,” Russell commented amid those tyre changes, reporting that the graining was clearing up. How much longer could he, Piastri, Norris and Leclerc stretch out their stint and add to the strategic intrigue?
Russell and Piastri got close as they squabbled for position at the start
The answer came when Piastri and Russell pitted together on Lap 15 and rejoined the track in the aforementioned group of yet-to-pit drivers, with Norris and Leclerc following suit a lap later – that sequence putting Williams driver Albon in a temporary lead on his birthday.
Piastri retained track position as the various pit stops filtered through, while Russell was another provisional undercut winner when he swept around the outside of Norris and his cold tyres through Turns 1 and 2, where Stroll’s Aston Martin got between them.
It did not take long for Norris to fight back, though, with the championship leader settling back into a rhythm and clearing Russell down the start/finish straight with DRS on Lap 18, meaning the top-five positions returned to their pre-stop order.
A few laps later, after some back and forth over the radio, Hamilton moved to the side of the track and let Leclerc through for P4 – the latter, who did not take the opportunity to fit a new front wing in the pits, feeling he had a better shot of challenging Russell.
Verstappen was still a low-key sixth, ahead of Stroll and Bearman, who were now the last drivers on their starting sets of tyres, with Tsunoda and Ocon holding the final top 10 positions over Antonelli (nursing floor damage picked up on the first lap), Hadjar, Albon, Gasly, Dohan, Sainz and Lawson – the Kick Saubers cut adrift at the back.
There was contact between the Ferrari drivers on the opening lap of the race
“Give me some feedback, guys,” Hamilton radioed after dropping behind Leclerc, requesting information as to where he was losing time – the seven-time World Champion not looking anywhere near as comfortable as he did in Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint race.
In the sister Ferrari, Leclerc was catching Russell and beginning to put pressure on the Briton, with that all-important DRS range approaching. However, bid to make a move would be made more difficult by the Mercedes being “a dragster” out of Turn 12.
On Lap 27, Bearman finally pitted for fresh rubber after a fierce scrap with Stroll, which involved a big lock-up for the rookie at the final hairpin – meaning the Canadian was now the final driver yet to stop but still pumping in personal best after personal best as the laps ticked by.
Up front, McLaren were wary of the three-second gap between Norris and third-placed Russell, and asked their driver to “use some pace”. Norris replied that he did not want to “push into the dirty air of Oscar again”, to which his engineer confirmed that Piastri would be asked to “help” by going faster himself.
In the laps that followed, McLaren’s radio juggling helped Norris pull some five seconds clear of Russell, who had in turn put a couple of seconds between himself and Leclerc – the Ferrari driver’s cause not helped by a mistake at Turn 14.
Alonso had to retire from the race with brake problems aboard his Aston Martin
With the race well into its second half, would Pirelli’s two-stop forecast play out? Or could the frontrunners look after their tyres enough to make the chequered flag with just one pit lane visit? “So far, it looks like the tyre is robust,” Norris was told in a follow-up message.
Adding some further tension to the mix, the Briton was told that there could be some rain in the closing laps of the race at “Class 1” – nowhere near as much as the deluge in Australia, but still something for teams to keep an eye on up and down the paddock.
Racing Bulls were one team committed to a two-stop plan, bringing Hadjar and Tsunoda in for fresh hard tyres in quick succession, while Stroll finally moved over to mediums after an impressive 37 laps on his original, white-marked rubber.
“Good pace now, Max. Better late than never,” Verstappen was amusingly told as the race entered its final stages and he closed in on fifth-placed Hamilton. But before the Dutchman could catch the Ferrari, his former title rival pitted for a second time and bolted on more hard tyres.
Would Piastri, Norris, Russell, Leclerc and Verstappen stay out? “I think we can go to the end,” Piastri commented, with Norris being told to “stay patient” as he managed graining and the gaps between his team mate ahead and Russell behind.
Piastri was in control from the start to the finish of Sunday’s race
As the top five stayed out and pondered that question, Hamilton lit up the timesheets by going around a second a lap faster. However, sitting some 17 seconds adrift of Verstappen, he had only 14 laps available to reclaim the position he lost in the pits.
A few seconds down the road, Ocon held seventh in what was turning into a fine race for himself and Haas, ahead of Antonelli, Albon and team mate Bearman, who had stormed past a host of rival cars after his out-of-sync stop – adding a “ciao” while doing so.
There was further battling in the midfield when the Racing Bulls went to battle with Doohan – Tsunoda managing to find a way past but Hadjar went off the track with the Alpine at the final hairpin on Lap 46. Doohan was later hit with a 10-second penalty for forcing another driver off the track, and picked up two penalty points post-race for good measure.
As Hadjar ploughed on, Tsunoda was suddenly forced into a third stop when part of his own front wing came loose down the start/finish straight – ending any hopes he had of adding to his Sprint points.
Back at the front, there was drama developing at McLaren, with Norris reporting that his brake was “going long” and the pit wall confirming that it would get worse and worse through to the finish – potentially putting their 1-2 finish at risk.
It was a nervy finish to the race for Norris amid brake problems
As that situation worsened, Verstappen continued to receive praise from his race engineer about his improved level of pace and, having arrived at the rear of fourth-placed Leclerc, put a move on the Ferrari through the twisty Turn 1/2/3 complex on Lap 53.
From there, Piastri saw out the last few kilometres to bag McLaren’s second win of 2025 (and third in a row stretching back to last year’s Abu Dhabi finale), while Norris crossed the line just 1.3 seconds ahead of Russell after almost losing his brakes entirely.
Verstappen was a solid fourth over Leclerc and Hamilton, with Ocon one of the stars of the race to claim P7 in front of Antonelli, Albon and Bearman – Haas’ double score meaning Alpine are now the only team yet to get on the board this season, with Gasly a frustrating 11th.
Stroll was another to miss out on a reward by a handful of seconds after his lengthy first stint, followed by Sainz, then Hadjar, the struggling Lawson and the penalised Doohan, who also picked up a penalty in the previous Sprint race.
Kick Sauber rounded out a difficult day in 17th and 18th, Gabriel Bortoleto getting the better of Nico Hulkenberg despite his early off, with Tsunoda the last of the finishers thanks to his front wing trouble and Alonso watching most of the race from the sidelines.
After a painful end to his home race in Australia, the day belonged to Piastri in Shanghai
“It’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish,” said Piastri. “The car’s been pretty mega the whole time. I think today was a bit of a surprise with how the tyres behaved, but I’m just super proud of the whole weekend. This is what I feel like I deserved from last week. The team did a mega job with the 1-2. I’m very, very happy.”
What’s next
After a week off, F1 will travel to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix from April 4-6. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.
