Verstappen Fourth After Difficult Race

Max Verstappen finished fourth in the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday after a difficult race. Oscar Piastri won the race for McLaren.

He stayed ahead of teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third in the Mercedes.

Verstappen, who started fourth, lost two places to the Ferraris on the first lap, but regained them.

This involved a late overtaking manoeuvre on Charles Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton dropped back due to the wrong strategy.

At the front, polesitter Piastri was able to control the race. The Australian only had to give up the lead briefly during the pit stop phase, but was never really threatened. Not even by teammate Norris, who mainly had to deal with Russell.

After the only series of pit stops, Russell briefly drove in second place. He had actually lost that position to Norris at the start.

Ferrari experienced another difficult race, but were lucky that Leclerc did not cut the rear tire of teammate Hamilton with a clumsy manoeuvre on the first lap.

Now the Monegasque only damaged his own front wing, something that hindered him the entire race. Leclerc crossed the line in fifth place. Hamilton came in sixth after an unfortunate second pit stop.

Haas surprises, Verstappen’s teammate Lawson disappoints

Esteban Ocon drove a great race for Haas to seventh place.

Behind him, Kimi Antonelli had to settle for eighth place for Mercedes, ahead of Alexander Albon in the Williams and the strong Haas driver Oliver Bearman.

Haas struggled a lot in the first race in Melbourne, but now drove in the points with both cars.

For Liam Lawson it was again a mediocre performance in the second Red Bull. Verstappen’s teammate already had a bad starting position by qualifying last. He eventually started from the pits, because adjustments were still being made to his car. He did not get further than fifteenth place.

Race is all about tyre management

The not particularly exciting race at the Shanghai International Circuit was all about tyre management.

The entire top ten started on the mediums, a tyre on which Verstappen could not keep up with the pace at the front as expected.

After the change to the hard tyres, it took a while for the Limburger to get into his rhythm, but eventually there was some speed in the Red Bull again.

From sixth place he was able to put enough pressure on to force Hamilton to make a second pit stop, while also getting Leclerc in his sights. Three laps before the end he passed the Ferrari quite easily.

At the front there was still some stress for Norris due to brake problems. Russell seemed to be able to attack, but came up a lap short.

That all happened behind Piastri, who drove from his first pole position to his third victory without any problems.

With that he climbed to fourth place in the World Championship standings.

Norris remains the leader in the championship with 44 points. Verstappen remains second with 36 points.

The next race is in two weeks in Japan.