“The sensations were incredible (…) the car was on rails, I could do everything I wanted,” celebrated the Dutchman, who also won the sprint race on Saturday.
From behind, Norris’ McLaren slipped between the two Red Bulls, offering the British team its best classification so far this season.
“I didn’t expect it,” Norris reacted after reaching the finish line. “I was surprised by many things: the lack of pace of the Ferraris, our good pace, our face to face with the Red Bulls…”.
In the drivers’ championship, Verstappen already has a cushion of 25 points over Pérez.
The red cars of the ‘Scuderia’, which were expected to fight for the podium on this circuit, were in 4th and 5th position, with the Monegasque Charles Leclerc ahead of the Spanish Carlos Sainz.
“Honestly, we haven’t been very fast this weekend,” lamented Sainz. “In the race we expected to do better (…), this type of circuit is the one that has cost us the most so far.”
The other Spaniard on the grid, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), finished seventh, after an incredible comeback in the final laps from 12th position. The Spaniard also took the extra point for having set the fastest lap of the Grand Prix.
“We finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piasti, things that are not normal. I think we have a car a second slower than the McLarens and the Ferraris, and we managed to be fighting with them in the race, so we are very happy,” Alonso valued
It was precisely the Aston Martin driver who encouraged the start, overtaking Pérez and putting himself in parallel with Verstappen, who once he got rid of that initial attack by Alonso, did not feel threatened again in the rest of the race.
safety car
The distance that the Dutchman had accumulated with respect to his pursuers disappeared with the intervention of the safety car on lap 24 due to mechanical problems in the Sauber of Finnish Valtteri Bottas.
At the restart of the race, there was a new incident: the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) hit the rear of the Racing Bulls of the Australian Daniel Ricciardo, while the Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas) also hit the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) .
Result: a second consecutive safety car, which however did not affect the supremacy of Verstappen.
The British Lewis Hamilton, who started from 18th position, He benefited from the chaos to reach the final ninth position, synonymous with points, while his Mercedes teammate George Russell was sixth.
But the Chinese public only had eyes for Zhou Guanyu, a native of Shanghai and the first driver from his country to race in Formula 1 in China. The Sauber driver, who reached the elite of motorsport in 2022, finished in 14th position.
Despite this, the driver was able to finish behind the first three classified in front of the main stand and left his car in a flood of tears from emotion, while being acclaimed by the fans.
Classification
1. Max Verstappen (Nederland/Red Bull) 305.066 km in 1 hour 40:52.554
2. Lando Norris (Great Britain/McLaren-Mercedes) at 13,773
3. Sergio Pérez (Mexico/Red Bull) 19,160
4. Charles Leclerc (Monaco/Ferrari) 23,623
5. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain/Ferrari) 33,983
6. George Russell (Great Britain/Mercedes) 38,724
7. Fernando Alonso (Spain/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 43,414
8. Oscar Piastri (Australia/McLaren-Mercedes) 59,198
9. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain/Mercedes) 57,986
10. Nico Hülkenberg (Germany/Haas-Ferrari) 1:00.476
11. Estéban Ocon (France/Alpine-Renault) 1:02.812
12. Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes) 1:05.506
13. Pierre Gasly (France/Alpine-Renault) 1:09.223
14. Guanyu Zhou (China/Sauber-Ferrari) 1:11.689
15. Lance Stroll (Canada/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:22.786
16. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark/Haas-Ferrari) 1:27.533
17. Logan Sargeant (USA/Williams-Mercedes) 1:35.110
Best race lap: Fernando Alonso (Spain/Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:37.810 on the 45th lap (average: 200.630 km/h)
The abandonments: Valtteri Bottas (Finland/Sauber-Ferrari): engine, 20th lap; Yuki Tsunoda (Japan/Racing Bulls-Red Bull): accident, lap 27; Daniel Ricciardo (Australia/Racing Bulls-Red Bull): mechanical problem, lap 34.
Drivers’ World Championship classification: 1. Max Verstappen 110 points; 2. Sergio Pérez 85; 3. Charles Leclerc 76; 4. Carlos Sainz Jr 69; 5. Lando Norris 58; 6. Oscar Piastri 38; 7. George Russell 33; 8. Fernando Alonso 31; 9. Lewis Hamilton 19; 10. Lance Stroll 9; 11. Yuki Tsunoda 7; 12. Oliver Bearman (Great Britain) 6; 13. Nico Hulkenberg 4; 14. Kevin Magnussen1; 15. Alexander Albon (Thailand) 0; 16. Estéban Ocon 0; 17. Guanyu Zhou 0; 18. Daniel Ricciardo 0; 19. Pierre Gasly (FRA) 0; 20. Valtteri (END) 0; 21. Logan Sargeant0.
Constructors’ World Cup classification: 1. Red Bull 195 points; 2.Ferrari 151; 3. McLaren-Mercedes 96; 4. Mercedes 52; 5. Aston Martin-Mercedes 40; 6. Racing Bulls-Red Bull 7; 7. Haas-Ferrari 5; 8. Williams-Mercedes 0; 9. Alpine-Renault 0; 10. Sauber-Ferrari 0.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
