Verstappen dominates in Shanghai, but Norris prevents Red Bull one-two!

(Cover picture: XPB Images)

The adjectives to define the level at which Verstappen races are long gone, but his hunger for victory is still not. This would be enough to define his race win in the Chinese Grand Prix, a stage in which he hadn't yet won solely due to the long absence of the Shanghai circuit from the Formula 1 calendar.

Behind him, however, upon closer inspection there are interesting themes to analyze and dissect: the missed Red Bull one-two thanks to Norris's great race, the anonymous race of the two Ferraris, favoured by Safety Car's timing, and much more. As always, here's the final classification... Let's start with our analysis!

RACE CLASSIFICATION (LAP 56/56)

Win #58 for Verstappen, podium #15 for Norris 👏👏#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/5O5kKf8DA2

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 21, 2024

A race in two sections, with the Safety Car bringing the pack back together

The unfolding of this Chinese Grand Prix saw two very distinct phases, punctuated more or less halfway through the race by two Safety Car periods. The first of them, triggered by Bottas' car stranded at the exit of turn 11, brought with it some controversy regarding the timing with which it was sent onto the track: it took two laps to transform the yellow flag regime in a Virtual Safety Car and then, as mentioned, in a proper Safety Car.

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

On this occasion the teams tried to turn their strategy in their favour, and here two clear winners emerged: Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. The two, in fact, were running a very long first stint with the clear objective of covering the race distance with just one pit stop, while their teammates (as well as all the others) were opting for a more conventional strategy, with two pit stops.

Analysis of the stints completed by top teams - Chinese GP

However, having replaced the tyres a few laps before, Verstappen, Perez, Piastri, Sainz, Alonso, Russell and Hamilton found themselves losing a lot of time (and their track position on Norris and Leclerc, in some cases) by pulling into the pits once again. The Englishman and the Monegasque thus found themselves second and third behind only Verstappen, whose advantage - to give you an idea - was so large that he was able to return to the track still as race leader.

Shortly thereafter, Stroll's collision with Ricciardo triggered the second and final Safety Car, which regrouped the pack once again, "resetting" the race from lap 32 until the chequered flag on lap 56. This 25 laps stint was covered on Hard tyres by pretty much everyone, with the only exception of Alonso who tried to upset his rivals' plans by wearing Soft tyres, only to then finish the race on the yellow Mediums.

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Due to the tyre compound uniformity, it's convenient to analyze this second phase of the race in more detail, where - as mentioned - some interesting outcomes emerged...

Norris faster than Perez, but Verstappen's race pace was unapproachable

The most surprising outcome of the Shanghai race was, in my opinion, the pace set by Lando Norris on Hard tyres. Putting aside the array of impressive laptimes set by Max Verstappen and not considering the laps from 32 to 38, in which Perez was embroiled in battle with Leclerc (who was slowing him down), the comparison with the Mexican Red Bull driver was the McLaren driver's prerogative, who on average kept a pace about 2 tenths per lap faster than him.

Analysis of the race pace held by Verstappen, Norris and Perez - Chinese GP

Certainly an unexpected verdict, probably also the result of some setup changes performed by the engineers of the Woking team after the Sprint, a session in which Norris himself had had great difficulty getting rid of the cars around him (also ending up in a rather anonymous sixth position). However, this does not and must not take away the prestige of what Lando showed on track, for which he was elected Driver of The Day by fans from all over the world. An acknowledgment for a race which, for the first time this year, saw him on the second step of the podium. In doing so, the streak of 4 consecutive one-twos (3 for Red Bull, 1 for Ferrari) that opened this 2024 Formula 1 World Championship is now interrupted.

Ferrari third fastest today, once again with obvious problems making the tyres work

Now let's talk about the race of the two Ferraris, which - exactly like in the Sprint - closed in fourth position with Charles Leclerc and in fifth position with Carlos Sainz. Their situation was even worse during the first stint, in which they were constantly in seventh and eighth position, after a terrible start in which even Nico Hulkenberg on his Haas had managed to put the wheels in front of them.

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

As in the last round in Suzuka, the only strength for the two Ferrari drivers was the low tyre degradation of their SF-24, which in fact allowed the pitwall to turn Leclerc's strategy towards a single pit stop. The price to be paid, however, was the same seen in the last qualifying sessions: an extreme difficulty in getting the tyres up to temperature, a factor that proved critical in the restarts after the Safety Car periods...

Analysis of the race pace held by Norris, Perez and Leclerc - Chinese GP

Look at the performance of Norris and Leclerc in comparison to each other: from lap 32 onwards the Monegasque pays the Englishman an average gap of 8 tenths per lap, mainly due to the poor grip of a Hard tyre which his SF-24 didn't want to "switch on". Only after being overtaked by Perez and after spending a couple of laps behind the Mexican driver (which probably facilitated the warm-up of the tyres), Charles' pace returned to being decent.

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

We say "decent" and not "good" because in any case Norris' laptimes were still a few tenths per lap quicker, which clashes with the picture of Ferrari as the second fastest car that we had observed also after the last Japanese Grand Prix. Probably, time's coming for the Maranello team to introduce updates that can correct the flaws of the SF-24 and highlight its positive aspects, which as mentioned are tyre degradation and - net of everything - pure performance. Precisely that performance which often remains unexpressed due to the above-mentioned issues.

Mercedes ahead of Piastri only because of his issues, but now also Alonso is faster than them!

Even the two Mercedes have little to celebrate, although in their case it isn't a surprise after a start to the Championship where the only top team that seemed beatable by the boys from Brackley was Aston Martin.

Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Even if Russell (P6) actually finished ahead of Alonso (P7), I would say that today the latter was overall more competitive than both George and his teammate Lewis, even though the 7-times World Champion was engaged in a comeback which took him from the starting P18 to P9 at the chequered flag. Only an alternative strategy deprived the Spaniard of a better result, which today was within his reach.

Returning to Mercedes, the critical issues remain those already seen: a way too variable car balance based on track conditions, low straight line speed (if not at the expense of a low downforce setup), and a car which - ultimately - gives a poor feeling to its drivers.

Analysis of the race pace held by Sainz, Russell, Alonso and Piastri - Chinese GP

Starting from these assumptions, only damage to the diffuser of Oscar Piastri's car allowed George Russell to finish the race in front of him, being unable to do anything against Sainz's Ferrari who preceded him. Also the English-German team, like what was said for Ferrari, will also have a strong need for aerodynamic updates to subvert the trend of a World Championship that started really badly for them.

Before concluding our analysis, an honorable mention is required for Nico Hulkenberg's race, today able to bring his Haas into the points positions despite a rather eventful race in the midfield, where he almost risked being involved in the crash between Stroll and Ricciardo. Thanks to his tenth position, Haas is now just two points adrift of sixth place in the Constructors' Championship (now in the hands of Visa CashApp RB), with a concrete possibility of achieving it.

From Asia to the United States: in two weeks we'll go racing in Miami

Thus ends the Chinese Grand Prix, with the 58th victory in Formula 1 for Max Verstappen. Curiously, since the last time the race was held in Shanghai, 106 races have been held: with today's win, the World Champion has won exactly 50% of them. A figure that more than others clarifies how much Max is branding this era of our sport.

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

In two weeks we'll be back on track for the Miami Grand Prix, once again - as in China - with the new Sprint format. The new track in Florida has so far been a hunting ground for Verstappen, so it's difficult to think that this couldn't be the case also in 2024. However, it will be interesting to check how the battle behind him will evolve, to understand whether Ferrari will be able to put itself back in second position ahead of McLaren, and whether the battle between Aston Martin and Mercedes will take a different turn.

See you soon!