It was an interesting weekend in Shanghai, as McLaren set out to extend their early championship lead while Ferrari had to balance their two drivers on the track. With one retirement in Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Kaitlyn Mckinney rounds up race two of the Formula 1 2025 season.
Despite facing disappointment over his home race last week, Aussie Oscar Piastri kept it cool to cruise his way to his first podium of his career. Starting out in pole position, the McLaren driver had the benefit of clean air, unobstructed by the chaos behind him. Further, with a recently resurfaced track, tyre degradation was lower than the teams expected, allowing Piastri to go for a one-stop pit strategy. This allowed him extend his lead in front of his teammate.
Lando Norris had a bit more difficulty on track. Struggling with dirty air and being undercut by other drivers’ pit strategy, it was a battle for Norris to get his McLaren into P2. Towards the end of the race, he increasingly came under pressure from Mercedes’ George Russell. The papaya driver had to also manage his breaks due to an ongoing problem. He was told by his race engineers to take no risks, and Norris brought the car home for a McLaren 1-2.
Coming in third was Brit George Russell, who dropped a few places in the beginning of the race. Despite this, the Mercedes driver tried his best to put the pressure on McLaren.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came in fourth, after saying all weekend that the car was not suited to the circuit. After qualifying, Verstappen said that the only way he’d win is if “they all retire in front of me”. Despite his lack of optimism, the dutchman managed to school the car to the finish line, managing some tricky overtakes on the likes of Charles Leclerc.
The Ferrari’s had an interesting race. After colliding with Hamilton in the opening lap, Leclerc suffered the rest of the race with a damaged front wing. He continued the entire race with this, choosing not to replace the wing in a pit stop despite loosing a lot of down force. Commentator Martin Brundle said that the Monegasque was “driving like a man possessed”, keeping up with his competitors and finishing in fifth.
However, after the race, Leclerc was disqualified for his car being under the weight limit. After the fuel was drained from the car, the Ferrari was one kilogram under the 800kg minimum weight.
Leclerc’s new teammate, Hamilton, was one of the only front runners to complete a two pit-stop strategy. Fresher tyres meant he was able to put in some fast laps, but it didn’t allow the Brit to place any higher than sixth. At a track where patience can be rewarded, Hamilton was maybe being a bit too cautious in preserving his tyres and maintaining pace.
Hamilton was also disqualified after the race, as his rear skid block was under the minimum thickness required in the technical regulations.
After a tough start for Haas in Melbourne, Esteban Ocon crossed the finish line in seventh for the American team. Afterwards, Ocon said that he was delighted with the “amazing turnaround” that the team has made in such a short time.
The highest placing rookie was Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes young star. The 18 year old placed eighth and was voted as the peoples’ driver of the day. He was followed by birthday boy Alexander Albon, who managed to maintain P1 in his Williams as others were pitting. He finished in ninth.
Rounding out the top ten was another rookie, Ollie Bearman. The Haas driver had a bit of difficulty weaving his way around the back of the back, but managed to score some much needed points for himself and his team.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly just missed out on points – but was also disqualified after the race for his car being underweight.
Lance Stroll came in 12th after his teammate Fernando Alonso had an early retirement. The Spaniard’s brakes set on fire, causing his to retire within the first couple laps of the race.
Carlos Sainz was still getting used to his Williams car after retiring early in Melbourne. He finished in 13th after a comparatively uneventful race.
Racing Bull’s rookie Isack Hadjar followed Sainz, after some late stage fighting with Alpine’s Jack Doohan. While Hadjar was aggressive on the attack, Doohan was on defensive. However this backfired, as Doohan was noted for forcing another driver off-track and received a 10 second grid penalty. This meant he finished in 16th.
After another round of poor qualifying performance, Red Bull’s second driver Liam Lawson climbed up a few places. Struggling with the grip of the car, the Kiwi driver failed to make any significant improvement – finishing in 15th.
Following Lawson were the Sauber’s of Nico Hulkenburg and Gabriel Bortoleto. The Saubers seemed to be struggling with pace and grip the entire weekend, a big worry for the team.
Rounding out the last of the qualified drivers was Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bull. The Japanese man had to pit for a third time due to his front wing suddenly breaking – an issue for the team to look into.
As mentioned before, Fernando Alonso was the only retirement of the race.
“It’s been an incredible weekend, the car has been pretty mega. Today was a surprise, how differently the tyres behaved. This feels like what I deserved from last week”.
Oscar Piastri to F1.com
