Oscar Piastri holds on as McLaren finishes One-Two in Chinese Grand Prix
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In an absolutely thrilling display of teamwork, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris continue to show their dominance this season as they bring home McLaren's 50th career One-Two finish, increasing their lead in both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.
Pre-Race Review
Following the Sprint race on Saturday afternoon, Round 2 continued on into the qualifying session that would determine the grid lineup for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix.
Local favorite Lewis Hamilton, who claimed victory in the Sprint just hours prior, only managed to start in P5, just behind World Champion Max Verstappen. Claiming pole for the day was Piastri with a qual time of 1 minute 30.641 seconds, who also managed to set a new lap record for the newly resurfaced circuit – only beating Hamilton's newly-set lap record by 0.208 seconds.
George Russell showed formidable pace and exceptional consistency during his qualifying lap, and secured himself a P2 start coming in behind Piastri by just 0.082 seconds. However, in an attempt to redeem himself after a rough Sprint Qual and Race, Norris managed to grab a P3 start for the Grand Prix, coming in behind teammate Piastri by just 0.208 seconds.
Meanwhile, after getting knocked out in Q1 and lining up last on the grid, Red Bull decided to make some last minute changes to the suspension on Liam Lawson’s RB21, meaning he would be starting the race from the pit lane. Can the honorary rookie claw his way back up the grid and prove his worth to Red Bull’s management, or will his performance continue to dwindle?
Race Start
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Lights out, and we're off! Russell gets off the line with a great start attempting to beat Piastri to the first turn, while Verstappen also makes a decent start to put pressure on Norris in P3. Piastri and Norris exhibited great defensive maneuvers to hold them off, with Piastri pinching Russell to the inside and Norris running Verstappen wide, with both McLaren's leaving a massive gap in the middle of the track.
Coming into the first turn, Norris passed Russell to take away P2 thanks to Piastri’s pinch at the start – and McLaren is now running one-two. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both had good starts for Ferrari, getting the better of Verstappen after he went wide battling Norris at the start, immediately dropping him down to P6.
Further back, Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda both moved up the grid during Turn 1, both overtaking Isack Hadjar dropping him down to P9. Meanwhile, both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly had a good jump off the line, resulting in Ocon overtaking Alex Albon for P10 and Gasly both Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll to take P14.
At the back of the grid, Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson both moved up 2 spots each after passing Hülkenburg and Bortoleto – replays confirming that the rookie had spun out during Turn 1, forcing him to pit early for a fresh set of tires. Doohan is now P16, with Lawson running at P-18.
As these incredible drivers were coming out of Turn 2, Verstappen called to his engineer that Leclerc had a broken front wing. Replays confirm Verstappen's claim, showing that Hamilton had pinched his teammate, breaking the end cap of Leclerc’s front wing. Leclerc's engineer immediately came over the radio to ask if they could wait to change it until the first pit – Leclerc's reply: “We will survive.”
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First Stint
During Lap 3, Gasly made a call over the radio to inform his team that Fernando Alonso had brake fire, ultimately forcing an early pit for the veteran which resulted in a retirement from the race on Lap 6. Unfortunately for Alonso, this would be his second DNF of the season, in just the second race of the year. This does not bode well for the Aston Martin team.
Further back in the field, Tsunoda came flying into the pits on lap 12 for a set of hard tire compounds, successfully performing an undercut on Kimi Antonelli when the rookie came into the pits on Lap 13, moving the Racing Bulls driver up into P13.
With their tires begging for mercy, both Hamilton and Verstappen chose to pit start of Lap 14, neither of which got the undercut on Piastri, Russell, or Norris, but both drivers switched over to the hard tires – which has seemed to hold up decently well on the newly resurfaced track.
Second Stint
Desperately trying to hang on to his lead, Piastri comes into the pits at the end of Lap 14 for a fresh set of hard tires, closely followed by a P3 Russell – who was currently switching to hards and attempting his own undercut maneuver on the now leading Norris – but could he make the move stick?
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Only 2 laps later, Norris comes in for a set of hard tires, allowing Albon to take the lead with Piastri close behind in P2 on the fresher set of hard tires, but unfortunately Albon still needs to make a pit stop. As Norris comes out of pit lane, Lance Stroll is there to greet him followed by a hungry Russell – who made the undercut stick and quickly overtook Stroll for P3. Behind him, Norris made a move on Stroll as well, determined to not let the Mercedes pull away.
Try as he may, Russell could only fend off the faster McLaren for a few laps thanks to the DRS boost Norris was receiving on the straights, allowing him to catch up and overtake Russell for P3 on Lap 18. Up in front, teammate Piastri took back the lead from Albon on Lap 19, who was clearly at a disadvantage on his degrading tires.
Ferrari decided to pull some team orders on Lap 20, ordering Hamilton to allow Leclerc to pass. Leclerc seems to have more pace, even with his broken front wing still attached. Hamilton responded, “When he gets closer, yeah.” Meanwhile, Norris gets the better of Albon for P2 – who's still on the set of hard tires he started the race with. Albon finally pitted on Lap 21 from his P3 position, but unfortunately for the birthday boy he would emerge from pits at P14.
During Lap 25, Leclerc made a quick radio call to his team, just to comment on Russell’s Mercedes saying: “The Mercedes is a dragster out of turn 12. It’s unbelievable!” A little further behind them, Haas’ rookie Oliver Bearman made a strong overtake attempt on P7 Stroll, but unfortunately he went a little too deep and locked up in Turn 14, allowing Stroll to keep the position.
Bearman would end up pitting on lap 27, knocking him back to P17. However, he kept pushing hard and made two solid overtakes in Turn 14 against both Lawson and Doohan – the latter being overtaken during Lap 34, putting Bearman up to P14. By this time, McLaren had built up a decisive lead with Piastri ahead of Norris by 3.4 seconds, with a 4.7 second gap between Norris and Russell.
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Piastri and Norris continued to extend their lead over Russell and Leclerc, keeping the pair well out of DRS range. Alpine rookie Doohan locked up his tires during an overtake attempt at the hairpin on Turn 14 and forced Hadjar off track on Lap 46 – receiving a 10 second time penalty to be added at the end of the race, costing him 2 positions in the process.
Tsunoda ended up having to pit during Lap 48 to change out a broken front wing, with replays showing there was no contact with another driver, but that the wing had broken by itself – which doesn't bode well for the technicians at VCARB. The gap to Norris in P2 is now up to 6 seconds, with Russell sitting comfortably in P3 and Verstappen closing in on Leclerc in P4.
Closing Laps
Up front, Norris’ brakes were starting to fail allowing Russell to eat away at the gap between them. Right around Lap 51, Norris received a radio call from his engineer telling him: “I’d rather finish 2nd than not at all. No hard braking.” Meanwhile, Verstappen seemed to find himself in a good rhythm through the second stint, finally catching up to and overtaking Leclerc for P4 on Lap 53, but Russell is almost 6 seconds ahead of him now – squashing his chances of a podium finish.
In the end, after 56 hard fought laps, Piastri put on a wonderful display of skill and consistency throughout the entire race, which saw him bring home his 3rd career victory in Formula 1. Meanwhile, teammate Norris put on an impressive display of teamwork and communication to secure P2 for McLaren, showing just how much this duo has grown during the off-season.
Preliminary Results:
By the end of the race, the Top 10 finishers were as follows:
P1 - Oscar Piastri
P2 - Lando Norris
P3 - George Russell
P4 - Max Verstappen
P5 - Charles Leclerc
P6 - Lewis Hamilton
P7 - Esteban Ocon
P8 - Kimi Antonelli
P9 - Alex Albon
P10 - Oliver Bearman
However, upon inspection after the Chinese Grand Prix, Technical Delegates had found that Hamilton’s Ferrari SF-25’s rear skid block was under the minimum thickness requirements, resulting in a disqualification (DQ) for the 7-time champ.
Unfortunately for the Scuderia, Leclerc would also receive a DQ after an inspection had revealed that his SF-25 was approximately 2 pounds (1 Kg) underweight according to the technical regulations set forth by the FIA. A Ferrari Team Representative commented on the ruling, stating: “It was a genuine error [made] by the team.”
Notably, Pierre Gasly’s A525 had also been found to be underweight, meaning that the Alpine driver would also receive a DQ for the day, stripping him of the P11 finish he had produced for the team.
With these disqualifications handed out after the race, this greatly changes the final results and further affects the battle for the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.
Final Results and Point Totals
P1 - Oscar Piastri +25 points
P2 - Lando Norris +18 points
P3 - George Russell +15 points
P4 - Max Verstappen +12 points
P5 - Esteban Ocon +10 points
P6 - Kimi Antonelli +8 points
P7 - Alex Albon +6 points
P8 - Oliver Bearman +4 points
P9 - Lance Stroll +2 points
P10 - Carlos Sainz +1 point
Drivers’ Championship Standings After Round 2:
1 - Lando Norris - 44 pts
2 - Max Verstappen - 36 pts
3 - George Russell - 35 pts
4 - Oscar Piastri - 34 pts
5 - Kimi Antonelli - 22 pts
6 - Alex Albon - 16 pts
7 - Esteban Ocon - 10 pts
8 - Lance Stroll - 10 pts
9 - Lewis Hamilton - 9 pts
10 - Charles Leclerc - 8 pts
11 - Nico Hülkenburg - 6 pts
12 - Oliver Bearman - 4 pts
13 - Yuki Tsunoda - 3 pts
14 - Carlos Sainz - 1 pt
15 - Isack Hadjar - 0 pts
16 - Pierre Gasly - 0 pts
17 - Liam Lawson - 0 pts
18 - Jack Doohan - 0 pts
19 - Gabriel Bortoleto - 0 pts
20 - Fernando Alonso - 0 pts
Constructors' Championship Standings After Round 2:
1 - McLaren - 78 pts
2 - Mercedes - 57 pts
3 - Red Bull - 36 pts
4 - Williams - 17 pts
5 - Ferrari - 17 pts
6 - Haas - 14 pts
7 - Aston Martin - 10 pts
8 - Kick Sauber - 6 pts
9 - VCARB - 3 pts
10 - Alpine - 0 pts
Notable Performances
Driver of the Day: Kimi Antonelli
In an amazing show of his skills, rookie sensation Kimi Antonelli qualified P8 for the GP, out performing every other first year, and most of the veterans on the field as well. His patience and consistency during the race saw him finish an impressive P6 after the disqualifications came into effect, making it his third Top-10 finish out of his first three races of his career. This proves that Antonelli will be a force to be reckoned with as he gains more confidence and experience amongst his peers.
Tough Stuff Award: Liam Lawson
Liam Lawson has had a very tough start to the 2025 season so far, with Round 1 resulting in a DNF and finishing in the bottom half of the grid at both the Sprint and Grand Prix during Round 2. Being knocked out of Q1 for each qualifying session also doesn't look so good for the young Red Bull driver. Despite that, he has been making some great overtakes and working hard to claw up the field during Round 2, showing that he does have potential to be a good second driver to Verstappen. But the hard fact still remains, can the rookie turn it around before Red Bull decides to look for a replacement?
Closing Thoughts
With Round 3 starting in just 11 days at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, the 2025 season has only just gotten started. But already, the Drivers' Championship battle is getting intense as Verstappen, Russell, and Piastri are all within 1 point of each other for 2nd place.
Will current leader Norris be able to keep his lead over the reigning champion, or will Verstappen be able to claw his way back to the top? Can Russell claim a victory to put him above his peers, or will Piastri continue to show his impressive dominance and take the crown? We'll find out during the Round 3 Japanese Grand Prix!
Edited to include:
- driver positions and position rankings in results
- ocd tag