Until the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, there was no big mystery in Max Verstappen disappearing into the distance at the start of the Chinese Grand Prix, and then doing it again after a safety car period, which erased his hard-earned advantage. The real mystery was Lando Norris’ impressive second place, with his McLaren comfortably beating Sergio Perez’s Red Bull and both Ferraris in a direct competition. But let’s discuss that in a moment.
For Verstappen, it was a fairly routine race despite the interruptions caused by Valtteri Bottas’ broken Sauber and the collisions in the middle of the pack during the restart. Verstappen had saved both sets of his hard tires and switched to the first set after 13 laps. However, when the safety car came out earlier than expected, he had to make his second stop just 10 laps after the first. Although he needed to overtake Charles Leclerc and Norris after his first stop, this was not a significant problem due to his pace advantage.
Red Bull pitted Perez at the same time as Verstappen during each stop. Between the first and second stops, Perez overtook both Ferraris, but still had not caught up to Norris. The virtual safety car (VSC) allowed Norris and Leclerc to make their first and only stop, saving eight seconds compared to the rest of the pack. Norris was lucky that the VSC lasted long enough for him to pass the pit entry before it ended. When the safety car came in, Verstappen remained in the lead, but Perez was behind Leclerc. Despite having 17 laps remaining, Perez’s tires were too worn from overtaking the Ferrari for the second time, which prevented him from posing a threat to Norris.
If Perez hadn’t been so behind Verstappen during the first pit stops, he might not have come out behind Leclerc after the second stops. This would have given him the chance to catch up and challenge Norris. However, he was delayed in the first part due to having to briefly overtake Fernando Alonso, who had a good start and even tried to overtake Verstappen. Perez took five laps to pass the Aston Martin, as his tires deteriorated. By that time, Verstappen had already built a 5.5-second advantage.
Alonso was then overtaken by Norris, who had been more cautious in the early laps with a heavy fuel load. Alonso’s tires degraded quickly, and he made his first and only stop on lap 11, switching to his only set of hard tires. Unlike Red Bull, Aston Martin did not have an extra set of new hard tires, leaving Alonso vulnerable to a safety car before he had used the current set enough for the strategy to work. As expected, a safety car came out, forcing Alonso to make a third stop and recover to seventh place, setting the fastest lap on the way.
The difference between Alonso’s aggressive start and Norris’s calculated driving was evident. This played a role in Norris’s remarkable result, but it was not the only factor. As McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said, they expected the track to be challenging for them, but it turned out to be their most competitive race so far. The pit stop aided by the VSC and subsequent safety cars helped Norris and the Ferraris make a one-stop strategy work. Tire stress was reduced due to the 10 laps of VSC and safety car. The real mystery was why Norris’s pace was much better than the Ferraris’.
Leclerc expressed his surprise at the performance difference, noting that Norris was half a second faster as soon as they switched to the hard tires. Even with McLaren having a larger rear wing angle and front flap, Ferrari was slower. In the sprint race, the rear tires of the Ferraris degraded more than those of the McLarens, but the situation changed on Sunday.
Norris managed to keep the tire temperature balanced between the axles, which was crucial for performance. However, Alonso’s Aston and the McLarens struggled in this aspect compared to the Ferraris in the sprint race. The challenge on Sunday was different, and Norris made fantastic use of his unexpectedly good car.
George Russell followed Sainz’s Ferrari after overtaking both red cars on the first lap. However, Mercedes did not have the pace to threaten them. Lewis Hamilton made major setup changes after the sprint race and found more understeer than ever during his recovery race to ninth place, starting from 18th.
Oscar Piastri’s McLaren suffered diffuser damage during the safety car restart, preventing him from emulating his teammate Norris. Nico Hulkenberg finished in 10th place with the heavily updated Haas. Zhou Guanyu received a standing ovation from fans for his 14th place, marking a significant moment for F1.
© 2024
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