Red Bull driver Max Verstappen returned to the top of the standings after a modest start from fourth with a commanding victory in the sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit on Saturday.
Verstappen benefited from pole sitter Lando Norris going off the track on the first lap, then perfected the moves of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, steadily gaining ground over the 19-lap battle. .
After Hamilton finished second and Alonso suffered a puncture, a thrilling battle for third place was ultimately won by Sergio Perez, ahead of the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Norris and Oscar Piastri, and George Russell. The McLarens competed with bold software. -Tire Strategy – Earn points.
Given the adjusted format for the 2024 season, Friday afternoon's sprint qualifying session will feature a 100km dash grid, with points awarded to the top eight finishers (up from a maximum of eight points for first place). (up to 1 point for 8th place).
Norris started from pole position with a spectacular lap at the end of the SQ3 phase in heavy rain, followed by Hamilton (seven) and Alonso (two), who won a total of 12 world titles. The human world champion followed. ) and Verstappen (3 cars).
As the cars lined up on the grid and the tire blanket was peeled off in vastly improved conditions, the majority of the field opted for medium compound tires, with Russell the only driver opting for a more aggressive approach on soft tyres. It became clear that. .
As the lights went out, Hamilton raced off the line and into a battle with Norris in the expansive Turns 1 and 2. The McLaren's driver slid wide as it rounded the back half of a double right-hander turn and tumbled dramatically. order.
At the end of the first lap, Hamilton took the lead ahead of Alonso, Verstappen, Sainz, Perez and Leclerc, but Norris dropped back to seventh place from teammate Piastri, and home hero Zhou Guanyu was in the points after a slow start. It was placed in 9th place. his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“Why did the battery die?” Verstappen swore over the radio at this point. He was about two seconds clear of the Mercedes and Aston Martin cars of Hamilton and Alonso. As DRS activated and the battle for the lead began, the two machines were separated by just a few tenths of a second.
Meanwhile, Hamilton's teammate Russell made good use of the soft tyres, neatly fending off Kevin Magnussen's Haas at the final hairpin to move into 10th place, but it remains to be seen whether the red-marked rubber will hold up. There wasn't. for the distance of the race.
At this point, the stewards noted two incidents. At the turn six moment, Zhou and Bottas were noted for leaving the track to gain an advantage, while Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg were noted for pushing another driver off the track, but both were quick. I was fired.
With just over a third of the sprint left, Hamilton had built up a narrow margin over Alonso, with the two separated by around 1.5 seconds as Verstappen tried to overcome the battery gremlin and put pressure on the Aston Martin. It became.
At the end of lap seven, Verstappen got into Alonso's slipstream on the back straight, closing the distance and completing a straight-line pass into the hairpin for second. His gaze turned to Hamilton, the leader. Hamilton anxiously announced over the radio, “This thing won't turn.'' in low speed corners. ”
Those troubles came to light a lap later when Hamilton ran wide at the hairpin, opening the door for Verstappen. Verstappen closed the gap to just 0.5 seconds as he crossed the start/finish line, cornering his former title rival in sector one.
Hamilton was alerted to the gap by his engineers when he reached the middle sector and, in frustration, sent a radio message saying “Leave it to me”, but there was nothing the British could do to stop the Dutch advance. , Hamilton overtook again and returned to the lead. hairpin.
In the clean air, Verstappen and the RB20 came into their own, Verstappen going the distance, lapping 1.6 seconds faster than anyone else in the field at the first question, and as the last few laps wore on, attention turned to Verstappen. The battle moved to the rear.
While Hamilton held on to a comfortable second place, Alonso began to fall into the hands of Sainz, Perez, Leclerc and Norris, leading to a thrilling scrap for the final top three spots, with Piastri in the distance ahead of soft starter Russell. and held the final point position.
On lap 14, Leclerc attempted to pass Perez near the outside of the final hairpin, something he would repeat one tour later, but they locked up hard at the apex and his position remained the same.
However, Sainz attacked Alonso heading into the next Turn 6, and with a strong exit from the Ferrari the two ran side by side into Turn 7, where the two Spaniards made contact, allowing Perez to close in and pass. made possible. Turn 8 for both.
Alonso drops back with a puncture from that contact, losing several places in the final sector, then two Ferraris close together at the final hairpin, an angry radio message from the Monegasque, and Sainz goes wide at Turn 2. It jumped out. A friend slipped through.
From then on, the top position remained unchanged, with Verstappen beating Hamilton and Perez, while Leclerc, Sainz, Norris, Piastri and Russell took the top eight positions and secured points.
Chou had no choice but to settle for 9th place at the end of his first race in his home country, with Magnussen, RB Daniel Ricciardo, Bottas's other kick Sauber, Esteban Ocon's top Alpine driver, and Aston Martin in the lead. Stroll, the only player to score, followed. Alonso pitted and retired.
Pierre Gasly was 15th in the second Alpine race, with Hiroki Tsunoda (RB), Williams' Alex Albon and Logan Sargent, and Hulkenberg's Haas rounding out the finishers after the aforementioned accident with Stroll. Ta.
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“I think I'm in much better shape than I expected in the race,” Verstappen said after the race. “Of course I wanted to win, but I never thought it would turn out like this.
“After five or six laps, it seemed like everyone wore out the tires a little bit and basically started to really take off. Of course, there were degrees, but they were a little lower than the others.”
What's next?
Following the sprint race, drivers will take part in Grand Prix qualifying later on Saturday, with the session scheduled to start at 15:00 local time.heading to lace hub To find out how to track actions.
