F1 Chinese GP: Piastri dominates, Norris defies brake woes to complete McLaren 1-2

Oscar Piastri secured victory at the Chinese Grand Prix as he benefited from putting his McLaren on pole position to avoid the tyre issues of the chasing Formula 1 pack.

With tyre management the order of the day throughout the field, Piastri was able to control his race and took the third win of his career, leading home team-mate Lando Norris, who was forced to manage a worsening brake issue in the closing stages.

George Russell was too far adrift to pass Norris despite the tumbling pace of his compatriot but sealed consecutive third place finishes to start the 2025 season.

A half-century of 1-2 finishes in the history of McLaren showed it is again the team to beat at present.

Max Verstappen put in a strong performance to finish fourth for Red Bull, leading home the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Having been the worst team on the grid in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Haas secured a double points finish with Esteban Ocon seventh and a feisty Oliver Bearman 10th.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli held onto his eighth place starting position to score points in back-to-back races with Alex Albon ninth for Williams.

Piastri squeezed Russell off the line, allowing Norris to make a move to grab second, before the McLaren team-mates then worked together to lead the field.

It was the opposite story at Ferrari, however, as Leclerc clipped Hamilton and suffered wing damage, although the duo did both pass Verstappen’s Red Bull off the line.

Meanwhile, Norris was complaining of graining on the troublesome left-front tyre with just eight laps on the board, while Piastri took advantage of running in clean air.

The pitstop window opened on lap 11 as Leclerc disagreed with his team over which plan to implement with the Monegasque running close behind his team-mate.

Both Hamilton and Verstappen stopped on lap 14, with Piastri boxing a lap later and having a slower stop than he would have wanted as he was stationary for 3.8 seconds.

Norris was in a lap later and lost out to Russell, who came in a lap earlier to regain his net second place in the grand prix, but it was just one lap before the McLaren retook the position into Turn 1.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Albon, on his 29th birthday, inherited the lead having not stopped but soon fell into the clutches of the overall frontrunners.

Elsewhere, Hamilton was resisting requests from Ferrari to swap places with Leclerc as they homed in on Russell, but begrudgingly ceded to the team call at the start of lap 21.

McLaren was managing its two lead drivers well, Piastri pushing the pace to allow Norris to follow suit and pull further clear of Russell without entering the dirty air of the race leader.

As those two-stopping started to pit again, the leaders were quick enough to stay out on the hard compound, with Verstappen coming alive and chasing the pack.

Hamilton opted to pit on lap 38 for fresh hard tyres in the aim of catching the top five towards the end of the race although it did not pan out for the winner of Saturday’s sprint race.

The Racing Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar also both opted for a second stop and were cutting through the field towards the top 10 until Tsunoda suffered a front wing issue and Hadjar was ran wide by Jack Doohan’s Alpine, who was hit with a 10s penalty as a result.

Out front, Norris reported a brake issue as the pitwall urged caution rather than pushing to close in on Piastri in the closing stages.

There was no such warning for Verstappen, who attacked Leclerc and got through with three laps left.

Piastri took the chequered flag and Norris nursed the second McLaren over the line despite losing over three seconds to the chasing Russell on the last lap.

Fernando Alonso was the sole retirement on lap four as the brakes on his Aston Martin gave up the ghost.

Chinese Grand Prix results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81		56				1	25		McLaren	Mercedes
2	L. Norris McLaren	4		56	9.748			1	18		McLaren	Mercedes
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63		56	11.097			1	15		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		56	16.656			1	12		Red Bull	Red Bull
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		56	23.211			1	10		Ferrari	Ferrari
6	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		56	25.381			2	8		Ferrari	Ferrari
7	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		56	49.969			1	6		Haas	Ferrari
8	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		56	53.748			1	4		Mercedes	Mercedes
9	A. Albon Williams	23		56	56.321			1	2		Williams	Mercedes
10	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		56	1'01.303			1	1		Haas	Ferrari
11	P. Gasly Alpine	10		56	1'07.195			1			Alpine	Renault
12	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		56	1'10.204			1			Aston Martin	Mercedes
13	C. Sainz Williams	55		56	1'16.387			1			Williams	Mercedes
14	I. Hadjar RB	6		56	1'18.875			2			RB	Honda
15	L. Lawson Red Bull Racing	30		56	1'21.147			2			Red Bull	Red Bull
16	J. Doohan Alpine	7		56	1'28.401			1			Alpine	Renault
17	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5		55	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
18	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27		55	1 lap			1			Sauber	Ferrari
19	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		55	1 lap			3			RB	Honda
dnf	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		4	52 laps			1		Brakes	Aston Martin	Mercedes
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