Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix 2025Formula 1

[IforceV8]

They could have done the entire race on the hard tires.

 

[Jezza819]

Happy for Oscar after what happened in his home race.

 

[05XR8]

Feels like the Coulthard/Hakkinen era with two likeable drivers.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

Not the most exciting race, even if I liked the result.

Congrats to Piastri on his win, and McLaren on their 50th 1-2. It's a shame Lando's brakes were toast.

Russell keeps getting good results from nowhere. Antonelli being nice and consistant.

Shocked at Max's lack of pace after the sprint race. Lawson needs to sort himself out.

Ferrari did OK! I didn't expect Lewis to fall off the pace so badly.

Haas is making me root for Ocon? What the heck?! Good job, Bearman.

Albon did decent. I wanted Sainz to finish higher up.

Racing Bulls looked so good in qualifying, I thought they'd do better.

 

[Fezzik]

Racing Bulls looked so good in qualifying, I thought they'd do better.

RB screwed themselves with the 2 stop strategy. Lost out on some decent points.

 

[Grayfox]

F1.com has shown the race results, but have neglected to do the points.
Their automated system needs work.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Great drive from Piastri, never looked in any trouble or danger from behind, had the pace to keep Lando honest. Another solid drive from Russell, if he keeps doing that this season he'll cement himself nicely behind the top 2.

Ferrari were meh, Leclerc similar to yesterday, clearly the wing damage actually alleviated some of the pressure on that front tyre and certainly helped him on the straights, Lewis clearly just made a tweak too many in search of better tyre Deg and lost pace, solid nonetheless. Red Bull look all at sea, Max clearly had pace towards the end and I think Brundle might be on to something with how the Red Bull carries extra weight, clearly isn't coping well with it and came alive later, as happened in Melbourne, to a lesser extent.

Great for Haas, Bearman with some solid racecraft and Ocon drive very well. Antonelli, expected a bit more, Merc just suffered with the undercut on him and he couldn't quite make his way back, not sure why he got driver of the day but there we are.

Lawson, again I'll echo what I've said, is Lawson that bad or is Verstappen just in another league when it comes to manhandling dodgy cars? I don't know, but Lawson doesn't have any pace relative to Max, relative to the Racing Bulls and relative to cars he should be beating. I saw him make one overtake, on Hulkenbergs Sauber with older tyres, that was it. Looked like he could get close to Hadjar whilst he was battling with Doohan, and then just faded back, so even when 2 drivers are battling, he couldn't make up the time needed to get close to trouble them. Suzuka will be make or break for him at Red Bull. I actually think he would be faster in the RB anyway.

Suzuka in 2 weeks, I feel like Mercedes and Ferrari will be strong there looking at the strengths of their cars, still expect McLaren to be number 1 and Red Bull number 4. Lawson needs a result, it's a circuit he does know a lot better than the first 2 circuits so there's no excuses this time. Not that I view that as an excuse anyway unless it's a street circuit. Tsunoda has already indicated he would say yes if asked, I think it would be funny if he said no and force Red Bull into keeping an underperforming driver or doing something drastic.

 

[Jimlaad43]

So..errr...three drivers are at risk of Disqualification from the race.
Leclerc and Gasly for their cars being underweight

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/8MG4UiKmSN

Hamilton for excessive skid wear.

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/LNUwM6kYRf

Edit: Yep, Leclerc and Gasly disqualified

Leclerc and Gasly disqualified from Chinese Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly have both been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after their respective Ferrari and Alpine cars were found to be underweight in post-race checks.

www.formula1.com

Edit 2: Hamilton DSQed as well!

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/KmbsHGr9Xy

Ocon now moves up to 5th
Antonelli 6th
Albon 7th
Bearman 8th
Stroll 9th
Sainz 10th

This puts Williams tied with Ferrari on 17 points, Haas go from a disaster in Australia to scoring 14 points at the next round

 

[AshenGraey]

Geez....2 races to forget for Ferrari. Hope they'll get their act straight soon!

 

[Liquid]

After Ferrari didn't change Leclerc's front wing, Brundle rather explicitly made the point that teams are allowed to change obviously damaged car parts with new parts to comply with the minimum weight rule. I'd be interested to know if the front wing damage played a part in Leclerc's underweight. Hamilton having an illegal plank is also a strange one.

 

[Jimlaad43]

After Ferrari didn't change Leclerc's front wing, Brundle rather explicitly made the point that teams are allowed to change obviously damaged car parts with new parts to comply with the minimum weight rule. I'd be interested to know if the front wing damage played a part in Leclerc's underweight. Hamilton having an illegal plank is also a strange one.

The technical report i linked earlier explains the wing procedure and weights.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Very odd, and disappointing. I guess as the teams are running so close to the weight limit now, there's little room for error. Has tyre wear played a part here again like with Russel in Spa?

 

[Jimlaad43]

Very odd, and disappointing. I guess as the teams are running so close to the weight limit now, there's little room for error. Has tyre wear played a part here again like with Russel in Spa?

It can't be ruled out. The fact that all three of these recent Disqualifications were for cars which planned to 2-stop and ended up 1-stopping is enough of a coincidence that there could be legs to the theory.

Even Ferrari's team statement seems to be pointing to it as an answer.

 

[Veinz]

How in the hell did one of the most anonymous drivers of the race get DOTD?

 

[Jimlaad43]

How in the hell did one of the most anonymous drivers of the race get DOTD?

 

[Blitz24]

Until I read the news of the Ferrari DSQ, I felt that they once again screwed up their strategy of pitting Hamilton.

 

[IforceV8]

 

[Jimlaad43]

Interesting that even the official classification doesn't count the Sprint as a race.

Fernando Alonso isn't classified in the standings yet (hence why there's only 19 drivers listed) as he has not been Classified in either Grand Prix so far.
Alonso finished the Sprint in 10th so out of the points there. Does this mean it's possible to score points but not be classified in the standings?

 

[IforceV8]

I wonder what the weight difference (if any) between the sets of hard tires that came off of the Ferraris. 1 stop vs 2 stop

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Ferrari learning from mistakes

They were disqualified in 2023 for plank wear.

 

[Touring Mars]

Ferrari's Chinese takeaway: a 16 and a 44 to go please!

 

[Sum1s2pid]

Ferrari did OK!

My comment seems to have aged like milk.

Double points for Williams? Double points for Williams!

 

[Blitz24]

My comment seems to have aged like milk.

Double points for Williams? Double points for Williams!

I mean, they ran okay, save for the weird call to box Hamilton. They finished very badly though.

 

[-Fred-]

Williams is now joint P4 with Ferrari in the WCC.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I mean, they ran okay, save for the weird call to box Hamilton. They finished very badly though.

In hindsight, there was right thing to do with Hamilton, DSQ for plank or 1 stop and end up DSQ for underweight if it is the tyres.

Edit:
The start of the Sauber team, this car looks very tricky to drive.

 

[Jimlaad43]

"That was a good save" as both of the Saubers go wide at T8

 

[DG_Silva]

I wonder what the weight difference (if any) between the sets of hard tires that came off of the Ferraris. 1 stop vs 2 stop

It would only need to be 250g per tyre over 20-ish laps. I think that Leclerc's lack of front downforce could've caused excessive wear.

What I don't get is that you know that your driver is going to be doing a one stopper, you know that cars have underweighed when doing a one stop against conventional wisdom, so why wouldn't you put in that extra kilo of ballast to make sure?

 

[Bram Turismo]

I'm not sure if I completely buy into the "Lawson is terrible" fad.

I mean, he was pretty much on par with Yuki from the moment they put him in Ricciardo's seat. I cannot believe for one second Lawson is legit that slow in a Red Bull car... I have no idea what the hell is going on with that second car, but Max must have a very specific driving style that most people cannot seem to cope with.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I'm not sure if I completely buy into the "Lawson is terrible" fad.

I mean, he was pretty much on par with Yuki from the moment they put him in Ricciardo's seat. I cannot believe for one second Lawson is legit that slow in a Red Bull car... I have no idea what the hell is going on with that second car, but Max must have a very specific driving style that most people cannot seem to cope with.

All can be true, there's also nothing to say Yuki won't be the same or slower in the Red Bull.

Or there's an actual curse on that seat.

 

[o000o]

I'm not sure if I completely buy into the "Lawson is terrible" fad.

I mean, he was pretty much on par with Yuki from the moment they put him in Ricciardo's seat. I cannot believe for one second Lawson is legit that slow in a Red Bull car... I have no idea what the hell is going on with that second car, but Max must have a very specific driving style that most people cannot seem to cope with.

This is what happened to previous drivers too like Gasly, Albon, or Perez.