Max Verstappen continued to dominate in Shanghai. Following his victory in yesterday morning’s Sprint race, the three-time world champion secured another win in this afternoon’s race. This marks his fourth triumph out of five races this season, including the Sprint event in China.
Verstappen now boasts a total of 58 Grand Prix victories from 190 starts, while Red Bull celebrates their 117th win.
Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, finished third, the 39th podium position of the Mexican native's career. Perez has appeared on the podium in four of the five Grand Prix's this year.
"It was a phenomenal weekend for the Team, 117 wins and 15 years since our first victory here marks a very big moment for us." said Team Pricipal, Christian Horner.
"Max has just been fantastic, all season long and again with Checo on the podium sums up a great all round performance," added Horner, "We were on an aggressive two stop and we were a little unlucky with the safety car which played into Lando and Charles favour, but that's the way it goes sometimes."
The podium also featured Lando Norris, who secured second place for McLaren and achieved the 15th podium position of his career and 2nd of the 2024 season.
"We expected this weekend in China to be a case of damage limitation but, in reality, it proved to be our strongest weekend of the season so far. Pole Position in the Sprint, a strong qualifying performance ahead of the grand prix and then, today, a podium for Lando - and a podium on merit," said Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal.
Fernando Alonso, driving for Aston Martin, crossed the finish line in seventh place and set the race’s fastest lap for the 25th time in his career—his second such achievement after Zandvoort last year.
The unfolding of the race and the strategic decisions were significantly impacted by three Safety Car periods—two real and one virtual—totaling approximately 17 minutes, occurring just before the halfway mark.
These Safety Car interventions compressed the field and introduced variability in terms of pit stops and tire selections. Notably, six drivers—Hamilton, Stroll, Alonso, Sargeant, Tsunoda, and Zhou—opted to utilize all three tire compounds.
Further evidence of this dynamic emerged from the contrasting strategies employed by the top ten drivers. Norris, Sainz, and Leclerc made only one pit stop each, while Verstappen, Perez, Russell, Hamilton, Piastri, and Hulkenberg opted for two stops, and Alonso went for three.
"From a purely technical point of view, today's race confirmed that all three compounds were suitable for use. Obviously, the long Safety Car periods affected the way the race played out, allowing those considering a one-stop to make it work," said Pirelli's Mario Isola, "However, given the level of degradation evident, it would have really been borderline to make the one stop work without the Safety Car, as there would have been too high a price to pay in terms of performance compared to those who would have been on quicker, and possibly newer, tyres in the final part of the race."
"In fact, this was demonstrated by Alonso, who came in for new Mediums on lap 43 when in seventh place, and was then able to make up all five places lost at the pit stop over the course of his final stint," added Isola.
Chinese Grand Prix Final Results Summary - Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas
Chinese Grand Prix Final Results
DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING 56 1:40:52.554 25
Lando Norris MCLAREN 56 +13.773s 18
Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 56 +19.160s 15
Charles Leclerc FERRARI 56 +23.623s 12
Carlos Sainz FERRARI 56 +33.983s 10
George Russell MERCEDES 56 +38.724s 8
Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN 56 +43.414s 7
Oscar Piastri MCLAREN 56 +56.198s 4
Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 56 +57.986s 2
Nico Hulkenberg HAAS 56 +60.476s 1
Esteban Ocon ALPINE 56 +62.812s 0
Alexander Albon WILLIAMS 56 +65.506s 0
Pierre Gasly ALPINE 56 +69.223s 0
Zhou Guanyu KICK SAUBER 56 +71.689s 0
Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN 56 +82.786s 0
Kevin Magnussen HAAS 56 +87.533s 0
Logan Sargeant WILLIAMS 56 +95.110s 0
Daniel Ricciardo RB 33 DNF 0
Yuki Tsunoda RB 26 DNF 0
Valtteri Bottas KICK SAUBER 19 DNF 0
w/ Pirelli Media (image courtesy of Aston Martin)