Red Bull held a meeting with Max Verstappen following the Chinese Grand Prix to reassure him over their development plans.
The world champion has begun his title defence on the back foot as Lando Norris pulled eight points clear of him over the opening three rounds.
He finished fourth in China, behind the McLaren drivers and George Russell. Although he was encouraged by the car’s pace at the end of the stint, Verstappen said he lost too much time in the opening stint.
“The beginning was not easy, I just tried to drive to the pace we set out to do, but that is of course not at the same level as the cars ahead,” he told the official F1 channel. “The medium [tyre compound] was probably a bit more difficult.”
Team radio transcript: “I gave a lot of lap time away in that first stint”: Verstappen’s full Chinese GP radio
During the race Verstappen told his team he could have driven quicker during his opening, 13-lap stint on the medium rubber.
“On the hard tyre, from that second-half phase, we seemed a bit more competitive, more promising at least. That was at least enjoyable, trying to catch the cars ahead, having a bit of a fight as well.
“I think we’ll take that as a positive that there is pace in the car at some point. We just need to understand probably a bit more why it didn’t happen in the beginning and why at the end of the race it was better.”
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Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said the team had a productive meeting with Verstappen this week.
“After returning from China, a meeting took place in Milton Keynes where we explored how and when RBR would have a winning car again,” Marko told Red Bull-owned publication Speed Week. “It was a good conversation between Max and the engineers. We were able to show Verstappen the general development direction of the race car and what specific improvements are being made to the car.”
Marko said the RB21 has shown potential but has clear flaws. “We’re behind McLaren, the car is difficult to drive, and the set-up isn’t exactly straightforward either,” he said.
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“But we saw in the second part of the race in China: If things go well, like Verstappen did at the end of the race, now on hard tyres, he can drive as fast as or even faster than the leader. In fairness, though, I have to add – leader Piastri certainly wasn’t going full speed.
“Our mistake came with the medium [compound] tyres in the first part of the race in China. Max was too cautious there, based on his experiences from the only free practice session and also from the sprint, when the front tyres degraded very early. Verstappen still had that in mind. In retrospect, he could have pushed harder.”
Yesterday Red Bull made the shock announcement it has replaced Verstappen’s team mate, Liam Lawson, for the upcoming race in Japan. Marko said “mistakes crept in” Lawson’s driving after he was unable to drive in final practice at the Australian Grand Prix.
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“This trend continued in China. We had to act before Liam completely lost his confidence. In this context, we must not forget – his career isn’t over. He’s back driving for Racing Bulls, a team with a car that’s always capable of scoring points, a car that’s also significantly easier to drive and ultimately, a team where he won’t be measured against Max Verstappen.
“Muscleman” Tsunoda has raised his game, says Marko
“Another problem, and one that Sergio Perez, with all his experience, had to deal with in 2024: the Red Bull Racing car, with its narrow optimal operating range, is a difficult car to drive. On top of that, we’re two to three tenths of a second behind the frontrunners, which makes it even more difficult.”
Marko insisted Red Bull’s early driver change “is nothing unusual – we’ve done it before with Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, and both are still established drivers in Formula 1, with successful careers.”
Red Bull has promoted Yuki Tsunoda to Lawson’s seat, having passed him over for promotion at the end of last year. “Of course, there are many know-it-alls who will now object: Why wasn’t Tsunoda given preference from the start?
“This is because Yuki’s career often had ups and downs; he didn’t exactly have the image of reliability and consistency. But now he’s made a leap in his development, including in terms of physical preparation – Tsunoda is now a real muscleman.
“Yuki delivered impressive performances over the first two race weekends. So what distinguished Lawson in the second half of the 2024 season, we now see in Yuki.”
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He dismissed speculation Red Bull’s engine designer Honda pushed for Tsunoda to join the team ahead of the race his home event at their Suzuka circuit.
“The fact that this change of position and promotion for Honda protege Tsunoda came about just before his home race in Japan and on Honda’s home track is a coincidence,” he said. “It certainly helps that Yuki knows this racetrack well, but it also applies to Lawson. That wasn’t the deciding factor.”
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Mercedes has shed light on how seriously the floor damage Andrea Kimi Antonelli sustained during the Chinese Grand Prix affected his pace.
He picked up damage on the first lap after the Ferrari drivers made contact.
“What happened was Leclerc had hit Lewis [Hamilton’s] rear tyre and that broke his front wing end plate off,” Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained in a video released by the team. “Now, Kimi saw that, but he couldn’t avoid it because there were cars either side of him.
“So he drove over it and that then went under the car and it damaged the floor fences. And that was costing quite a lot of performance.”
Antonelli’s lap times were consistently several tenths of a second slower than those of team mate George Russell during the race. Shovlin said it is difficult to precisely quantify how much of that was down to the damage Antonelli’s car sustained.
“That [would be] a lot easier to say if you had a number of laps before it happened and then you can look at the loss. But here, when it’s on lap one, you’re having to estimate a bit where he would have been.
“To make that estimation, we can look at the aero data and we could see that we lost something of the order of two to three tenths of a second worth of downforce. But then the other problem was it’s not evenly distributed across the car.
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“You’d have heard Kimi come on the radio relatively early on and say to Bono [race engineer Peter Bonnington], ‘I’ve got no rear grip, mate.’ And what he meant there is that more of the downforce was missing from the rear axle.
“That causes the rear tyres to slide, they get hot, they lose grip. And he was battling a bit with that through most of the race. You can tune it a bit at the pit stop, you can make a front wing adjustment. But the problem is it can cause quite inconsistent effects when you’ve got damage on a car.
“It’s not just like having two tenths less performance because in some corners or in some cross-wind conditions, it can be more or less. The balance can be moving around a lot. And he did a good job to deal with that.”
Antonelli finished eighth but was promoted to sixth place after the Ferrari drivers were disqualified. Shovlin believes his damage prevented him from challenging them and Max Verstappen for fourth place.
“It was frustrating because I think from the pace we’d seen with Kimi this weekend, he should have been fighting with Ferraris, with Max. It would have been great to see him up there.
“It’s also great for his learning as an F1 driver to be racing at the front. So a bit of bad luck for Kimi there, but he’s really positive and looking forward to the rest of the season.”
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After coming within a second of victory in Melbourne, Max Verstappen had a disappointing Chinese Grand Prix, finishing 16 seconds off the winner in fourth place.
Red Bull were clearly less competitive around the freshly resurfaced Shanghai International Circuit. However, as Verstappen noted during the race, there were times he gave away more ground than he needed to, particularly in the first stint as he tried to protect the medium tyres which degraded so badly in the sprint race.
In fact, Verstappen incurred most of his eventual deficit to race winner Oscar Piastri during that time. On the hard rubber later in the race, as the track cooled, the RB21 was a match for the MCL39 at times.
Verstappen faced the added setback of having to get past the Ferraris, which passed him at the start of the race. Lewis Hamilton’s second pit stop took him out of the equation but Verstappen lost time passing Charles Leclerc.
Without that he could have been closer to George Russell in the final podium place and even Lando Norris when his brake problem struck. His radio messages reveal how the team realised he had more pace in the car as the race went on – in stark contrast to his struggling team mate.
Max Verstappen’s Chinese Grand Prix radio
Stint 1: Medium Stint 2: Hard Finish
Stint 1: Medium
Neither Red Bull driver was at all happy with their car’s balance on the medium compound. Verstappen lost most of his time to the leader at this stage and he clearly wasn’t happy with its balance on the front and rear axle.
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Lap: 1/56 VER: 1’42.249
Lambiase
No change to procedure, Max.
Lambiase
Last car, approach it back of the grid, Max.
Verstappen
Yeah Charles has a broken front wing.
Lambiase
Mode six, strat five, mode six, strat five.
Lap: 2/56 VER: 1’38.304
Lambiase
DRS enabled.
Lambiase
0.8 ahead, 0.8 behind, display eight.
Lap: 3/56 VER: 1’38.302
Lambiase
Think about turn one with DRS.
Lambiase
0.9 ahead, 0.9 behind. Gap behind, 1.1
Lap: 5/56 VER: 1’38.895
Lambiase
Cars ahead, less management, seven-eight, just information. Also turn one.
Lap: 9/56 VER: 1’39.229
Lambiase
Can I have an update please?
Verstappen
Well, no matter how slow I drive, I keep sliding on the rubber. There’s no entry and exit stability on the rear. Yeah, makes it very difficult.
Lambiase
So, front flap for the next set then please Max.
Verstappen
We’ve got a little bit. Ah, the upshifts are very bad.
Lap: 10/56 VER: 1’39.064
Lambiase
So, diff nine, mid nine, keep tracking it Max, that’s the issue. Or diff 10.
Lap: 12/56 VER: 1’38.627
Lambiase
So Max reduce management for the moment, please, reduce any management.
Lap: 13/56 VER: 1’42.610
Lambiase
Everything you’ve got, please, Max.
Verstappen
Sorry repeat?
Lambiase
Everything you’ve got.
Lambiase
Box and pit confirm Max. Box, pit confirm.
Lambiase
Strat 12 in pit lane.
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Stint 2: Hard
No team had run the hard tyre prior to Sunday’s race. However Red Bull was one of the three teams which started one of their cars on the harder rubber.
That meant Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase could pass on the team’s direct observations about the rubber’s performance. As the stint unfolded they became more optimistic about the tyre’s performance, and most drivers on the same strategy soon concluded they could finish the race without making another pit stop.
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Lap: 14/56 VER: 1’55.252
Lambiase
White line on the exit, racing Tsunoda and Antonelli. White line on the exit.
Lambiase
Okay, you’re clear.
Verstappen
I gave a lot of lap time away in that first stint.
Lambiase
Yes, we saw that, Max.
Verstappen
How is the hard tyre holding up?
Lap: 15/56 VER: 1’37.322
Lambiase
Pretty good on the front.
Lambiase
Still no issues on Liam’s tyre to this point.
Verstappen
It’s a normal kind of management?
Lambiase
Yes, please. Let’s not over-protect.
Lambiase
So Leclerc in pit lane, he’ll come out ahead of you.
Lap: 17/56 VER: 1’37.369
Lambiase
Reminder, turn one on DRS.
Lap: 18/56 VER: 1’37.847
Verstappen
I have a bit of front locking in the last corner, I don’t know how to solve that.
Lambiase
Stand by. Confirm turn 16?
Verstappen
Yeah. I went to minus one B-bal five.
Lambiase
Gap 0.6. No further changes for turn 16.
Lambiase
0.6.
Lambiase
All cars ahead, same pace, Max, other than Leclerc. Leclerc 37.1.
Lap: 22/56 VER: 1’37.543
Lambiase
Piastri 37.7.
Lap: 23/56 VER: 1’37.442
Lambiase
Engine 13. Engine one-three position 10. Position one zero. Leclerc not saving, turn one. Leader’s pace 37.3.
Lap: 24/56 VER: 1’37.250
Lambiase
Generally starting to reduce levels of management, Max.
Lambiase
36.9 ahead.
Lambiase
Strat nine, please, strat nine.
Lap: 28/56 VER: 1’37.318
Lambiase
We’d like to assess torque six at mid five, please. Torque six, mid five.
Lambiase
Thank you.
Lambiase
Hamilton, 37.5 ahead.
Lap: 31/56 VER: 1’37.084
Lambiase
Max, front flap for the next stint please.
Lap: 33/56 VER: 1’37.100
Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s okay. I think that’s okay, yeah.
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By the second half of the race the track conditions had changed significantly. The cloud cover which began to form as the race started had continued to gather and the shade and brought the asphalt temperature down by almost 10C.
Most drivers increased their pace at this point, but Verstappen’s Red Bull especially seemed to like the conditions. His quickest lap was just three-hundredths of a second off the best time of the race, set by Norris.
He was quick enough to close within DRS range of Leclerc and pull off a well-worked pass on the Ferrari through the opening corners which earned a few words of praise from Lambiase.
Lap: 36/56 VER: 1’36.646
Lambiase
Good pace now Max, better late than never. 20 laps remaining, come on.
Lambiase
Leclerc 36.9. It’s good pace, Max, keep it up.
Lap: 39/56 VER: 1’36.457
Lambiase
So Leclerc 36.7.
Lap: 40/56 VER: 1’36.440
Lambiase
Max, can we just introduce a very small amount of lift-off into 14 and six please? This is top pace now Max, keep going.
Lap: 41/56 VER: 1’36.137
Lambiase
Keep it up, Max, obviously everybody’s trying to hang it out now, don’t know what can happen at the end.
Lap: 43/56 VER: 1’36.242
Lambiase
Max, for a Safety Car restart, medium or hard?
Verstappen
I guess the hard is more robust.
Lambiase
Understood.
Verstappen
How many laps are left?
Lap: 44/56 VER: 1’36.221
Lambiase
13, including this one.
Lambiase
Fastest car in the top five at the moment.
Lap: 45/56 VER: 1’36.182
Lambiase
Max, just keep up that small amount of lift-off into six and 14.
Lambiase
Tyre temps are healthy, so no concern there.
Lambiase
Display three position nine if downshifts are an issue or becoming an issue, Max.
Lap: 46/56 VER: 1’36.188
Lambiase
Blue flags ahead.
Lambiase
Leclerc 36.5.
Lap: 48/56 VER: 1’36.023
Lambiase
Gap down to two seconds, Max.
Lap: 49/56 VER: 1’35.898
Lambiase
Six laps remaining.
Lap: 51/56 VER: 1’35.710
Lambiase
0.9. Just reminder turn one, Max.
Lambiase
0.4. Verstappen passes Leclerc at turn three
Lap: 53/56 VER: 1’36.175
Lambiase
Clear to use DRS, have a strong braking point into turn 11.
Lambiase
Does not have DRS, Max. Lovely stuff.
Lambiase
Three laps remaining.
Lambiase
Two laps remaining, Max, keep pushing to the end. Possible brake issue on Norris’s car.
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Finish
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner joined in the post-race discussions on Verstappen’s radio. He did not do the same after Lawson took the chequered flag in 16th.
There were times last year when Verstappen’s dissatisfaction with his car’s performance provoked a string of angry messages throughout the race. That wasn’t the case in Shanghai, and he even sounded optimistic about their performance as he prepared to climb out of his car.
Lap: 54/56 VER: 1’35.780
Lambiase
Okay, final lap.
Lap: 56/56 VER: 1’35.488
Lambiase
Good job Max. We will, yeah, lots to learn there. We’ll look at that. But you drove very, very well. Well done.
Verstappen
Yeah, I think the end was not too bad, the beginning was quite tough. But that was good. Bit of fun racing too at the end.
Chequered flag
Horner
Yeah, well done mate. Important points today, they all add up at the end of the year. Your pace on the hard tyre, particularly the second half of the stint, was every bit as good as the cars ahead, so plenty of lessons to take out of this.
Verstappen
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Let’s analyse everything. I think those last few laps were a lot more competitive, that’s for sure.
Lambiase
And some pick-up on the way in as well, please, Max, where you can.
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Three drivers were disqualified following last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix – the most to have been thrown out of a race in more than two decades.
Both Ferrari drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly lost their finishes after the stewards ruled their cars did not comply with the technical regulations at the end of the race.
You have to go back to the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix for the last time as many drivers were disqualified from the same race. On that occasion a total of four drivers – two from two different teams – lost their finishes.
Williams drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, plus Toyota duo Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta, were all thrown out of the race for the same reason: The dimension of their cars’ front brake cooling ducts breached the rules.
Hamilton and Leclerc’s efforts were in vain
When both drivers in the same team are disqualified it is often for the same reason, as a technical infringement on one car is likely to be present on its twin. This happened with both Haas cars after qualifying in Monaco last year. However this was not the case for Ferrari last weekend: Leclerc’s car was found to be underweight while Hamilton’s failed an inspection of its plank.
It’s almost three decades since a team last saw both its drivers disqualified for different reasons. It happened to Tyrrell at the 1996 European Grand Prix, held at the Nuerburgring. Mika Salo’s car was found to be underweight but his team mate Ukyo Katayama was disqualified for receiving outside assistance in the form of a push start during the race.
The double disqualification was a huge blow for Ferrari after they started the weekend strongly. Lewis Hamilton scored his and the team’s first ever victory in a sprint race, and it’s a good thing for him that he did, otherwise he’d be on one point instead of nine at this stage.
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Oscar Piastri won the main event from pole position, taking the third grand prix win of his career. That puts him level with 10 drivers including George Russell, who lost a win to a disqualification at Spa last year.
Fisichella scored Jordan’s final win in 2003
The other drivers on three wins include Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Phil Hill, Didier Pironi and Thierry Boutsen, plus three more names who are particularly noteworthy following the sad passing of former F1 team principal Eddie Jordan last week. Johnny Herbert won the British F3 championship for him in 1987, Heinz-Harald Frentzen enjoyed his strongest championship run with the team in 1999, winning twice, and Giancarlo Fisichella scored his first and the team’s last win at Interlagos in 2003.
Piastri has already had two pole positions for sprint races but claimed his first grand prix pole position last year. That makes him the 106th different driver to take pole (F1 officially counts 107, including Kevin Magnussen who took pole position for the 2022 sprint race at Interlagos but not the grand prix).
Qualifying data: Hadjar ends Tsunoda’s nine-race run of out-qualifying his team mate
The McLaren driver took pole position with the fastest ever lap of Shanghai, at 1’30.641. This was only the second time the course record has fallen since it was established in 2004: Sebastian Vettel previously broke it in 2018.
Michael Schumacher’s race lap record of 1’32.238, set at the inaugural race, still stands. Lewis Hamilton originally set the fastest lap last weekend, moving one closer to Schumacher’s record tally, but lost it to Lando Norris when he was disqualified.
Piastri led McLaren’s 50th one-two finish. The only teams with more are Ferrari (87) and Mercedes (60). He led both of the one-twos featuring himself and Norris. No prizes for guessing which McLaren driver pairing scored the most: It was of course Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost with 14 over two years. Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard managed 13 between them, albeit over a six-year spell as team mates.
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The trio of disqualifications handed Haas their second-best result in a grand prix. Esteban Ocon moved up to fifth, their highest individual finish since Kevin Magnussen in the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, while Oliver Bearman took eighth. Haas’s sole better finish than this was fourth for Romain Grosjean and fifth for Magnussen in the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix.
Haas only has one result better than last weekend’s
Haas and Racing Bulls scored their first points of the season, and the latter their first points under their latest identity. That leaves Alpine as the only team on zero after the first two rounds.
The post-race changes to the order also promoted Carlos Sainz Jnr to 10th place, meaning he picked up his first point as a Williams driver. There is a parallel here: Logan Sargeant scored his first (and only) point for Williams after two of the same drivers, Leclerc and Hamilton, were disqualified after the 2023 United States Grand Prix.
Even before the disqualifications, Alexander Albon had already matched his 2024 points total in just two races. He is now on 16 points.
Two drivers saw noteworthy streaks of out-qualifying their team mates come to an end. Yuki Tsunoda’s nine-race run was halted by Isack Hadjar, while Piastri beat Norris for the first time in eight rounds.
Fernando Alonso out-qualified Lance Stroll for the 14th grand prix in a row, which is the longest ongoing streak of any driver. However Stroll beat him in qualifying for the sprint race.
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Alonso is also the only driver yet to finish a grand prix. But there’s one driver whose season appears to be going worse than his.
Liam Lawson posted his first finish as a Red Bull driver, though a poor 12th was flattered by a total of four penalties ahead of him (in addition to the trio who were disqualified, Jack Doohan picked up a 10-second time penalty). But he can take heart from the fact he is not yet Red Bull’s worst debutant in terms of grand prix results: neither Sebastian Vettel nor Daniel Ricciardo were classified in their first two starts for the team, the latter following a disqualification at Melbourne.
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Chinese Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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Lando Norris said McLaren’s strong driver pairing is a vital advantage for them, after they won the two opening rounds of the new season.
He made the remarks after McLaren scored more than double the points of Red Bull over the Australian and Chinese grands prix. All of Red Bull’s 36 points were scored by Max Verstappen, who is Norris’s closest rival at the top of the drivers’ championship.
The poor performance of Verstappen’s new team mate Liam Lawson has raised speculation Red Bull may cut him loose just two races after he was hired to replace the under-performing Sergio Perez. Norris says McLaren’s more competitive pairing gives them an edge over the competition.
“Apart from Ferrari, I don’t think there’s another team that has two drivers that push each other anywhere near as much,” he said in the FIA press conference after Sunday’s race. “And for us, that’s a huge advantage.
“Even if you have the same car for everyone, if you have a team with two drivers who can push each other, they’re always going to beat everyone else that’s just on their own.
“We have a great car, we have a great team, but we also have two drivers that are pushing each other more than any other team has. And that will always triumph — even [over] the best driver on the grid.”
Norris said the co-operation between him and team mate Oscar Piastri is “one of our biggest strengths at the minute.”
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“We have different ways we drive. He wants some things on the car, I want different things. But normally our ways align and we always want the same thing in the end.”
Last weekend in Shanghai the teams had to adapt quickly to the changes in grip levels caused by the recently resurfaced track. “Oscar’s ability to adapt to a track like this was impressive, and something I clearly struggled a lot more to do,” Norris conceded.
“I hate understeer. The one thing I almost hate as much as brakes not working is probably understeer, and that’s what we had this weekend. As soon as we put the hard [tyres] on, for instance, my pace was a lot stronger because I had some front, finally.
“But I’ve learned a lot this weekend from Oscar and his ability to adapt to these different situations. It’s definitely something we’ll maximise because it’s helping us beat every other team at the minute.”
The pair pushed each other hard in both races. At Melbourne, when Norris was leading, the team temporarily instructed Piastri not to attack him when they caught a cluster of backmarkers on the damp, drying track. Norris said the team is ready to handle competitive situations between the drivers when necessary.
“We were free to race today, I didn’t have the pace to really get up to Oscar, and he drove very well. So he deserved it.
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“Same really last weekend, there were those two laps that I know everyone loves to talk about where we just held position, but the rest of it, we were free to race. So I’m sure we’re going to have some closer racing at some point. I think we’re both excited – probably nervous and excited at the same time – as I’m sure the team will be. But we’re ready.”
He believes the competition between McLaren’s drivers will serve them well if they find themselves under more pressure from rival teams in later races.
“We know that as much as we work together and we have a good time and enjoy ourselves, we both know we want to try and beat each other and show who’s best,” he explained. “And that’s inevitable. So there’s no point trying to hide away from that fact or make something of it.
“We’re two competitors who both want to win. But we help each other out. I think we both achieved something better this weekend because of that fact. And we’ll continue to do that.
“So I’m sure at the minute it’s going to be like that, but like Oscar said, at any point other teams can find something. Other teams have talked about upgrades and stuff already and they can catch up quicker than you think, just like we did last year. So as much as we’re doing that, we also have to think as a team and keep pushing the team forward from that side.”
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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says the team has made progress in an area which was often a weakness for them last year.
He believes the first three standing starts of the season have shown McLaren are making better getaways than they did in 2024.
This was a notable weakness for Lando Norris last year. He made a net loss of 12 places on the first lap of races last year, the worst of any driver who completed the whole season, tied with Valtteri Bottas.
Norris’s team mate Oscar Piastri generally made better starts. He made a net gain of six places until the final round, where he was knocked into a spin by Max Verstappen at the first corner and lost 17 positions.
On Sunday weekend Norris ended the first lap higher than he started, something he only managed in two out of 24 grands prix last year. Although Piastri lost a place in the first race of the season in Melbourne, Stella is encouraged by what he has seen of the team’s start performance so far.
“The start from our two drivers was great,” he told Viaplay. “Lando gained a position. Oscar had a very good take-off from pole position.
“From the start point of view we seem to be in a better situation than we were at times last year. We need to keep this trend.”
Norris’s strong getaway from third on the grid put McLaren on course to score its first one-two of the season.
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“Hopefully, we will have starts from the front of the grid and we can consolidate on the good performance of the car,” said Stella. “Starts are one of the most important things in Formula 1, so another area where we need to check what we are doing and make sure that we are at the top.”
McLaren completed last year without either driver suffering a retirement due to unreliability. Stella said Norris’s brake problem in the final laps at Shanghai shows they need to pay attention to this area.
“Above all we need to make sure that these kind of issues don’t happen anymore because you put such an important result for the team at risk,” he said. “So we definitely have some work to do in terms of reliability.
“We have done very well on reliability last year but this year in a couple of races we had a couple near-misses. So this definitely needs to be addressed.”
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Formula One Management has held talks with Ferrari after the team complained over its use of Lewis Hamilton’s radio messages during yesterday’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur reportedly described FOM’s editing of Hamilton’s messages as a “joke.”
FOM monitors each drivers’ live radio communications in real time during a grand prix. While all or the majority of them are played on the drivers’ onboard channels available via F1 TV, only an edited portion of them are included in the world television feed.
Vasseur complained that the selection of Hamilton’s messages gave a misleading impression of his role in the swap of positions between the team’s cars on lap 21 of yesterday’s race.
Hamilton originally suggested the cars swap places during lap 18. He told race engineer Riccardo Adami: “I think I’m going to let Charles go, because I’m struggling.” However this message was not played on the world television feed.
The first radio message indicating Ferrari were considering a change of order to appear on the world feed was played on lap 20. This was a clip of a message from the previous lap, in which Adami said “we are swapping cars turn 14,” and Hamilton replied: “When he’s closer, yeah.”
Vasseur felt the choice of radio messages overlooked Hamilton’s role in the team orders. An FOM spokesperson told RaceFans this had not been done deliberately.
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“There was absolutely no intention of presenting a misleading narrative regarding the Ferrari team radio,” they said. “Due to other situations developing during the race the message from Lewis was not played but this was not intentional.”
The discussions at Ferrari coincided with other developments in the race, including Lando Norris passing George Russell following their pit stops.
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Teams and drivers were stunned to discover how much quicker their cars lapped the Shanghai International Circuit last weekend following its resurfacing.
The result was a cagey, processional sprint race followed by a grand prix which drivers started tentatively, then pushed their cars harder once they realised the untried hard tyres would go the distance.
It was a weekend for stand-out performances of the positive and negative kind. Some drivers responded well to the uncertain conditions but others struggled to extract performance of their cars or avoid incidents with rivals.
Here’s RaceFans’ verdict on the entire field.
Lando Norris
Sprint race start: 6th Sprint race finish: 8th Qualified: 3rd (2 places behind team mate, +0.152s) Start: +1 place Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 2nd (1 place behind team mate)
▼ Two sub-par runs in SQ3 left him sixth instead of on the front row ▼ Ran wide at turn six at the start of the sprint race and gave away three places ▲ Gained one place from Stroll to finish eighth ▼ Couldn’t improve on Q2 time and took third on grid ▲ Passed Russell at start and re-passed him after pit stop ▶ Had to manage brake problem at end of race
5/10: Made up for a scrappy couple of days with a cool-headed performance in the grand prix
Oscar Piastri
Piastri kept everything under control in the grand prix
Sprint race start: 3rd Sprint race finish: 2nd Qualified: 1st (2 places ahead of team mate, -0.152s) Start: Held position Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 1st (1 place ahead of team mate)
▼ Also slipped up in SQ3, but not as badly as his team mate ▲ Passed Verstappen easily for second place in sprint race ▲ Off Norris’s pace to begin with in qualifying but breakthrough in Q3 secured pole ▶ Controlled the race from the front for third career grand prix win
7/10: Took full advantage of his team mate’s slip-ups in qualifying
Charles Leclerc
Sprint race start: 4th Sprint race finish: 5th Qualified: 6th (1 place behind team mate, +0.094s) Start: +1 place Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: Not classified
▼ Struggled with tyre overheating more than team mate in sprint race qualifying ▶ Joined Hamilton on third row of grid ▼ Clipping Hamilton at the start could have had far worse consequences for both ▲ Strong race pace despite front wing damage ▼ Couldn’t keep Verstappen behind for fourth ▼ Pace dropped off noticeably at end of second stint ▶ Disqualified when car was found to be underweight
6/10: Ferrari’s mid-weekend balance shift seemed to suit him better than Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton triumphed in sprint race
Sprint race start: 1st Sprint race finish: 1st Qualified: 5th (1 place ahead of team mate, -0.094s) Start: +1 place Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H) Finished: Not classified
▲ Claimed pole position for sprint race with clean single run in SQ3 ▲ Controlled sprint race for first win as a Ferrari driver ▶ Less happy with car after set-up changes ▼ Suggested he let Leclerc passed, then took several laps to do so ▶ Disqualified due to plank wear
6/10: Early signs the new relationship is working, but still problems to iron out
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Max Verstappen
Sprint race start: 2nd Sprint race finish: 3rd Qualified: 4th (16 places ahead of team mate, -0.75s) Start: -2 places Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 4th (8 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Came very close to denying Hamilton pole for sprint race ▶ Knew defending from Piastri was a lost cause in sprint race ▼ Passed by both Ferraris at start ▲ Pace improved in second half of grand prix, re-passed Leclerc for fourth
7/10: Rare to see him lose places off the start, but otherwise solid as ever
Liam Lawson
Only Verstappen’s pit stop got Lawson ahead of him
▼ 0.4s off Verstappen on first run in sprint race qualifying but couldn’t cool tyres back down ▶ Passed five cars for 14th in sprint race ▼ Qualified last for grand prix, half a second off making the cut for Q2 ▼ Couldn’t keep the hard rubber working in the race and lost a significant amount of time ▶ Bearman’s eighth represents the minimum he should have had from the grand prix
2/10: About as bad as it gets without crashing
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Sprint race start: 7th Sprint race finish: 7th Qualified: 8th (6 places behind team mate, +0.38s) Start: +1 place Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 6th (3 places behind team mate)
▼ Couldn’t find a way past Tsunoda in the sprint race ▼ Said his two Q3 laps weren’t his strongest after qualifying almost four tenths of a second off Russell ▶ Damaged his floor on lap one running over Leclerc’s front wing ▶ Passed by Ocon for fifth
5/10: Workmanlike performance at unfamiliar track, unlucky to pick up damage
George Russell
Russell was strong all weekend
Sprint race start: 5th Sprint race finish: 4th Qualified: 2nd (6 places ahead of team mate, -0.38s) Start: -1 place Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 3rd (3 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Opportunistic pass on Leclerc on first lap of sprint race, closed on Verstappen towards end ▲ Superb Q3 lap, improving his time in all three sectors, netted unlikely second on grid ▶ Couldn’t keep Norris’s quicker McLaren behind after start or pit stop ▶ May have eased off pace too soon at the end, preventing a run at brake-troubled Norris
9/10: At a consistently high level all weekend
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Lance Stroll
Ferrari disqualifications promoted Stroll into the points
Sprint race start: 10th Sprint race finish: 9th Qualified: 14th (1 place behind team mate, +0.085s) Start: Held position Strategy: One-stop (H-M) Finished: 9th
▲ Out-qualified Alonso for sprint race ▶ Ran eighth for much of sprint race but Norris eventually got by ▼ Out in Q2 but car had the pace for Q3 ▶ Ran longest opening stint of any driver on hards ▼ Fell behind Bearman who was on same strategy ▶ Promoted to ninth by disqualifications
6/10: Collected points but it looks like there was more pace in the Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso
Sprint race start: 11th Sprint race finish: 10th Qualified: 13th (1 place ahead of team mate, -0.085s) Start: +1 place Finished: Not classified
▼ Didn’t figure in sprint race after being out-qualified by Stroll for once ▼ Just like his team mate, the AMR25 was quick enough for Q3 but he didn’t make it ▶ Retired early in the race with brake failure
5/10: Got it together for the main event, then misfortune struck
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Jack Doohan
Doohan’s aggressive defending landed him in trouble
▶ Unable to do soft tyre run in sole practice session due to car fault ▶ Like his team mate, blamed traffic in SQ1 for his first-round elimination. ▼ Lunged into Bortoleto on final lap of sprint race ▼ Spun and eliminated in Q1 ▼ Penalised for forcing Hadjar off in the grand prix and fortunate to avoid another penalty for late change of line while defending
3/10: Clumsy wheel-to-wheel racing could easily have left him on six penalty points instead of four
Pierre Gasly
Sprint race start: 17th Sprint race finish: 12th Qualified: 16th (2 places ahead of team mate, -0.1s) Start: +3 places Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: Not classified
▶ Said traffic spoiled his SQ1 run, like Doohan ▼ Dropped out in Q1 but had the pace to reach Q2 ▶ Used same strategy as most drivers and made no progress ▲ Pulled off some good passes in the sprint race and grand prix ▶ Disqualified when car was found to be underweight
6/10: Frustratingly shy of the pace needed to compete in tight midfield
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Esteban Ocon
Sprint race start: 18th Sprint race finish: 16th Qualified: 11th (6 places ahead of team mate, -0.142s) Start: +1 place Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 5th (3 places ahead of team mate)
▼ Final corner error in SQ1 cost him chance to progress ▲ Great qualifying effort: 11th on grid despite being 15th on best combined sectors ▲ Passed Albon at the start ▲ Aggressive early pit stop paid off ▲ Gutsy pass on Antonelli for eventual fifth place
9/10: Superb recovery after Melbourne, great qualifying lap and pass of the race
Oliver Bearman
Bearman beat Stroll on same strategy
Sprint race start: 12th Sprint race finish: 15th Qualified: 17th (6 places behind team mate, +0.142s) Start: +1 place Strategy: One-stop (H-M) Finished: 8th (3 places behind team mate)
▲ Qualified a decent 12th for sprint race ▼ Slipped back to 15th with degradation towards the end of the race ▶ Tried to do three timed runs in qualifying but ran out of time to complete the last one ▶ Started on hards and ran long, passing Lawson when he started to struggle on mediums ▲ Passed Gasly for final point, then promoted by disqualifications
7/10: Not quite as together as his team mate but did well with ‘alternative’ strategy
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Isack Hadjar
Hadjar did a fine job to out-qualify Tsunoda
Sprint race start: 15th Sprint race finish: 13th Qualified: 7th (2 places ahead of team mate, -0.559s) Start: -2 places Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H) Finished: 11th (5 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Faster than Tsunoda in SQ1 but punished for minor error in SQ2 ▲ Out-qualified Tsunoda – and Antonelli’s Mercedes ▼ Passed by Tsunoda and Antonelli at start ▶ Poorly served by team’s two-stop strategy ▶ Frustrated by Doohan’s up-to-and-over-the-limit defending
6/10: Clear flashes of speed and potential
Yuki Tsunoda
Sprint race start: 8th Sprint race finish: 6th Qualified: 9th (2 places behind team mate, +0.559s) Start: +1 place Strategy: Three-stop (M-H-H-M) Finished: 16th (5 places behind team mate)
▶ Tow from Hadjar helped him reach SQ3 ▲ Gained two places at the start of the sprint race and held them to finish a fine sixth ▼ Might have been on the third or even second row but error in Q3 cost him better grid position. Got slower in each successive stage in qualifying ▼ Strong pace from sprint race was not apparent in grand prix ▶ Pitted on the same lap as Ocon – but coming in a second time spoiled his race ▶ Front wing failure, seemingly not caused by the driver, added insult to injury ▼ Received a warning for practice start position in the grand prix
6/10: Strong sprint race but driver and team errors compromised his grand prix
Alexander Albon
Albon led on his birthday and picked up more points
Sprint race start: 9th Sprint race finish: 11th Qualified: 10th (5 places ahead of team mate, -0.245s) Start: -1 place Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 7th (3 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Dropped two places from ninth in the sprint race with more graining than rivals ▲ Reached SQ3 and Q3 ▶ Ran the joint-longest first stint of anyone on the medium rubber and briefly led ▶ Never looked like being able to pass Antonelli ▼ Received a warning for practice start position in the grand prix
8/10: Emerged from the hectic midfield to claim valuable points
Carlos Sainz Jnr
Sprint race start: 13th Sprint race finish: 17th Qualified: 15th (5 places behind team mate, +0.245s) Start: Held position Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 10th (3 places behind team mate)
▼ Dropped out in SQ2 and Q2, admitted he still can’t get the last few tenths out of the car over a single lap ▶ Pitted during sprint race to test set-up change ▶ Couldn’t match Albon’s race pace and slipped back ▼ Passed by Bearman and Stroll during his second stint ▶ Promoted to final point by disqualifications
5/10: Tidy, but still trying to wring the last few tenths from the Williams
Nico Hulkenberg
Hulkenberg went backwards after lap one error
Sprint race start: 20th Sprint race finish: 19th Qualified: 12th (7 places ahead of team mate, -0.22s) Start: -7 places Strategy: One-stop (M-H) Finished: 15th (1 place behind team mate)
▶ Started sprint race from the pit lane after set-up change ▶ Did well to reach Q2 and came close to reaching Q3 before making a slight mistake ▼ A snap of oversteer put him in the gravel on lap one, damaged his floor and ruined his race ▼ Poor pace on hard tyres – likely a result of his damage – meant he dropped behind Bortoleto
5/10: Decent qualifying performance but costly first-lap error ruined his grand prix
Gabriel Bortoleto
Sprint race start: 14th Sprint race finish: 18th Qualified: 19th (7 places behind team mate, +0.22s) Start: -1 place Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H) Finished: 14th (1 place ahead of team mate)
▲ Out-qualified team mate again on Friday ▶ Hit by Doohan at end of sprint race ▶ Said traffic compromised his out-lap as he failed to progress beyond Q1 ▼ Spun off on the first lap, had to pit immediately ▼ His pace also faded early on the hard tyres ▼ Received a warning for practice start position in the grand prix
4/10: Core pace looked good but like his team mate it all went wrong on lap one
Over to you
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From last on the grid, Liam Lawson laboured to a 16th place finish on the road in Shanghai.
It was a result no team would have been pleased with. But for a front-running team like Red Bull it was an alarmingly poor showing from their new driver, and has prompted speculation they might even take the drastic step of replacing him before the next race.
Lawson qualified at the back for both of last weekend’s races at Shanghai International Circuit. He made modest progress over the 19-lap sprint race, taking the chequered flag in 14th place.
For the grand prix, Lawson pinned his hopes on an aggressive set-up change which he hoped would allow him to drive the car the way he wanted to. But those hopes were dashed over the 56 laps which followed, as his communications with race engineer Richard Wood below show.
As the race wore on, the exchanges between the pair became fewer and further between, as it became clear neither could find an answer to the handling problems Lawson experienced, and he dropped further off the pace of his team mate. By the end of the race, Max Verstappen’s lap times were more than a second quicker than his team mate’s, despite his tyres being 17 laps older.
Lawson took the chequered flag 16th. Penalties for four other drivers later promoted him to 12th, but his 64-second deficit to Verstappen will be of utmost concern to his team.
Lawson’s Chinese Grand Prix radio messages
Jump to: Stint 1: Hard Stint 2: Medium Stint 3: Hard Finish
Stint 1: Hard
The trio who started on the hard tyres all slowed around lap 15, as they were passed by those who started on mediums and emerged from the pits behind them after changing tyres. But while Stroll and Bearman’s lap times recovered, Lawson’s did not, leading Red Bull to pit him much earlier than them.
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Pre-start
Wood
Caution, caution. Okay straight down at the pit lane. That’s 30 seconds till green light. Just a radio check. Lawson drives to the pit lane exit and stops
Lawson
Copy that radio check.
Wood
Yeah, we’re loud and clear.
Lawson
What mode would you like me in for the formation at start?
Wood
12, as you are. Okay, that is green light for the grid. Lawson pulls away when he gets the green light and follows the others around on the formation lap
Wood
Release was good. Other cars on the hard tyre are Bearman and Stroll. They’re P17 and P14.
Wood
Copy.
Wood
All you can on these tyres. Box, box. Lawson returns to the pit lane and waits at the exit to start the race
Wood
Last car is just approaching the back of the grid now.
Lap: 1/56 LAW: 1’48.928
Wood
Race start. Seconds after the field passes by the pit lane exit light turns green and Lawson pulls away to join the race
Wood
Yellow, yellow. Double yellow, okay, all clear.
Wood
Mode six, mode six, car behind Hulkenberg.
Lap: 2/56 LAW: 1’39.640
Wood
DRS enabled caution, gravel exit turn eight, the full pack will have been through that.
Wood
It’s 0.8 ahead, 1.2 behind. Display eight when you can.
Lap: 3/56 LAW: 1’39.738
Lawson
Yeah, it’s just a train right now.
Wood
Yeah, copy that. We’ll have strat three when you can. Strat three.
Lap: 5/56 LAW: 1’39.228
Wood
Okay, we see the snaps through the low speed, think about push toggle.
Lawson
Copy.
Wood
You’re starting to break up a bit. Bearman has lost DRS, he’s the car ahead of you.
Lawson
Copy that.
Lawson
Honestly, there’s just not a lot I can do following.
Lap: 6/56 LAW: 1’39.342
Wood
Okay, copy mate, you know the plan, stick to target.
Lap: 7/56 LAW: 1’39.525
Wood
Engine 11 position 7 engine 11 position 7
Lap: 8/56 LAW: 1’39.177
Wood
And back to engine seven. So just think about your high-speed management when stuck in traffic, high speed management.
Lawson
Copy. Struggling more with the fronts still at the moment.
Wood
Copy, is that all speed ranges?
Lawson
For now it’s most speed ranges, mostly medium and high speed
Lap: 9/56 LAW: 1’39.743
Wood
Display 5, position 5 when you can, display 5, position 5, that’s high speed diff. And we’ll have display 8 and stay active on your mid switch. For reference, your tyres are looking in good condition compared to people, they’re looking good.
Wood
And we’ll have strat 5.
Lap: 11/56 LAW: 1’39.152
Wood
If that display five switch is positive, we have another step.
Lawson
Copy.
Wood
Looks like Gasly has boxed, so this may start to open things up.
Wood
How much are these guys ahead holding you up? How much are they holding you up?
Lawson
Quite a bit right now. I can’t get close enough to overtake.
Lawson’s race compared to his team mate, the two other drivers who started on hards and Isack Hadjar, who finished one place ahead of him
Lap: 12/56 LAW: 1’38.927
Wood
Okay, let’s make use of this free air. That’s Bearman ahead. He’s [cuts out] he will be isolated.
Lawson
Copy.
Wood
Balance update when you can.
Lawson
Just struggling with the bumps on entry, rear on exit.
Lap: 13/56 LAW: 1’39.135
Wood
Okay, recommendation, b-bal six, b-bal six.
Wood
Flap update when you can.
Lawson
Plus two.
Lap: 14/56 LAW: 1’38.801
Wood
Okay car behind now Hamilton, he’s on a fresh hard.
Lap: 15/56 LAW: 1’39.705
Wood
Liam let’s cancel tyres, let’s use all the tyre, cancel tyre saving, use all the tyre.
Lawson
Okay, copy. Mate I do not have the grip to fight this.
Lap: 16/56 LAW: 1’40.219
Wood
Strat three, that’s Max behind. Okay, so Max behind let him through into one.
Lap: 17/56 LAW: 1’40.405
Wood
Lawson pulls off-line approaching turn one and backs off, Verstappen passes Thank you.
Wood
Copy your grip comment, we are monitoring options, we are monitoring options
Lawson
Yeah man, I’m using so much of front tyre on entries.
Lap: 18/56 LAW: 1’43.770
Wood
Display five, position two, display five, position two, more diff-opening.
Wood
So just confirm, plus two on flap, plus two on flap.
Lawson
Yes front wing, but exits are really poor on traction as well.
Wood
Okay we’re boxing this lap, box, box.
Lawson
Copy, box.
Wood
Strat 12 in the pit lane, strat 12. Lawson makes his pit stop, switches to mediums, and pulls away
Stint 2: Medium
Bearman and Stroll ran longer opening stints and finished the race with just one more pit stop, which helped them finish in the points. But Lawson was never going to be able to make his medium rubber last 37 laps, and he quickly found his tyres dropped off.
When Bearman made his pit stop and began gaining on Lawson, Red Bull pulled him in for his second pit stop. The Haas driver nonetheless managed to pass him before the end of the lap.
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Lap: 19/56 LAW: 1’56.168
Wood
Strat 10. Strat 10. Okay, Bortoleto could be alongside, Bortoleto left-hand side.
Wood
Okay, display eight, display eight.
Lawson
I’m just using so much of the front tyre on exits.
Wood
Okay, welll display five, position one, for tip-in diff locking, For tip-in diff locking, display five, position one.
Lap: 20/56 LAW: 1’37.699
Wood
Display eight when you can.
Lap: 23/56 LAW: 1’37.642
Wood
First message for five minutes So just to confirm, we’re happy with high-speed management, how is the exit balance?
Lawson
I’m pushing through the fronts a little bit and then I’m getting snaps later on the exit. Low-speed exit’s really poor traction as well.
Lap: 25/56 LAW: 1’38.337
Wood
You see this group ahead are high-to-mid 38s, you are catching them.
Lap: 27/56 LAW: 1’38.117
Wood
Car behind now Bearman, he’s a new medium.
Lawson
I’m struggling so much at the front.
Wood
Yeah, copy that mate. Okay, mate let’s use the tyre now, use the tyre, all you’ve got.
Lap: 28/56 LAW: 1’37.626
Wood
Flap update when you can, flap update.
Lawson
Probably plus three again but I don’t want to hurt exits on traction
Copy, mate. We’re box this lap, box this lap. Bearman passes him at the hairpin, then he pits
Stint 3: Hard
Lawson’s first lap out of the pits on his new set of hards was well over a second quicker than Verstappen’s when he emerged from the pits on the same rubber 17 laps earlier and only a tenth of a second slower than Lewis Hamilton’s when he took a second set of hard tyres seven laps later.
The difference was, both those drivers went faster on their subsequent laps. Wood was urging his driver to push the tyre hard on his out-lap, but he couldn’t find more pace, and within half-a-dozen laps he was slower than Verstappen again. After the race finish he said his car’s balance only felt good on his first lap out of the pits.
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Lap: 31/56 LAW: 1’55.338
Wood
Strap 12 in the pit lane. Strat 12. Lawson makes his pit stop, switches to hards, and pulls away
Wood
Strat nine. Strat nine.
Wood
Car ahead, Hulkenberg on 11-lap-old hard tyres.
Lap: 32/56 LAW: 1’35.985
Wood
Mate this tyre is very resilient, so we can use the tyre here.
Lap: 33/56 LAW: 1’36.308
Wood
Okay, think about torque six for low-speed traction. Torque six for low-speed traction.
Lap: 34/56 LAW: 1’36.627
Wood
Mode six, mode six.
Lawson
The fronts are really starting to drop, but honestly the rear on exit is so poor.
Wood
Copy.
Lap: 38/56 LAW: 1’36.656
Wood
I know it’s tough out there, mate, you’re doing a really good job
Lawson
I have no balance, absolutely none.
Lap: 39/56 LAW: 1’36.552
Lawson
On tyres, is there anything else I can do?
Wood
We are looking.
Lap: 40/56 LAW: 1’36.654
Wood
Best option we’ve got is opening up the mid. Let’s have a look at mid two, mid two.
Lap: 41/56 LAW: 1’36.697
Wood
Yeah, I know it’s tough, but you are catching this group ahead of you. Keep them as a target.
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Lap: 43/56 LAW: 1’36.653
Wood
Okay, we see high rear slips into six and 14, torque eight, torque eight.
Lap: 47/56 LAW: 1’36.804
Wood
Another five-minute silence passes Okay, it’s 10 laps to go.
Lap: 49/56 LAW: 1’36.884
Lawson
Yeah, front is absolutely gone.
Wood
Copy. Seven laps to go after this one.
Lap: 50/56 LAW: 1’37.441
Wood
B-bal five, b-bal five.
Lap: 54/56 LAW: 1’37.246
Wood
Another five-minute silence passes Okay, three laps to go, that’s minus two on offset, minus two on offset.
Lawson
Copy, I can’t turn the car at all.
Wood
Yeah, copy that mate.
Finish
Long, awkward silences characterised Lawson’s final laps in a Red Bull around Shanghai. After taking the chequered flag he apologised to the team for how poorly the race had gone.
Lap: 56/56 LAW: 1’37.196
Wood
Final lap.
Chequered flag
Wood
Okay, recharge on, recharge on.
Lawson
Oh my god, man.
Wood
Yeah, that was a bit of a slog today.
Lawson
Dude, it lasted one lap, balance was good for one lap, and then it’s just, no fronts, and then I can’t get on power.
Wood
Yeah, copy that mate. We’ll take lessons. We’ll take lessons from today. We’ve got a fail 84 please. Fail 84. I’ll have pick-up on the way in please.
Lawson
Copy.
Wood
Once you come to stop it’ll be P1 and then just sit tight and I’ll tell you when to go to P0.
Wood
And P0.
Wood
Copy. Sorry mate. Honestly I tried everything to help that.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff heaped praise on George Russell after he finished on the podium for the second time in as many races in Shanghai.
Russell split the McLaren drivers on the grid and kept in touch with them for much of the race on his way to finishing third. Wolff said there was nothing more he could have got out of his car.
“The word solid doesn’t give it any justice because he just drove a race that was faultless,” Wolff told Viaplay. “He extracted the max of the car and the tyres. For me that was a 10 out of 10 drive.”
Wolff said “a podium is a realistic best-case based on the terms” due to the quality of the competition. “It was not only the McLarens, but Max [Verstappen] you can never discount, and the Ferrari so it’s good.”
Mercedes aren’t quite fast enough to win on merit yet, Wolff believes. “The ambition is to win, but we don’t feel any entitlement at the moment,” he said. “We’re not yet good enough, we’re second in the championship.”
Russell said he “fully maximised every time on track” over the weekend. “I was really happy with qualifying yesterday, getting in between the McLarens.”
He made an early pit stop to switch to hard tyres which allowed him to briefly jump ahead of Lando Norris. However the McLaren driver re-passed him again soon afterwards.
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Russell hoped the McLaren drivers would opt for a two-stop strategy but was disappointed. “The race today was really strong,” he said. “We called it pretty early about the one-stop and it was a bit frustrating it was so [obvious] in the end because I was hoping those guys ahead would have gone onto the two-stop.
“We know at the moment we’re trying our best to catch McLaren, these guys are doing an amazing job. For us to end up quite a bit ahead of Max and the Ferraris right now, that’s a great result.”
He said there was little he could do to keep Norris behind at the start due to the way Piastri positioned his car.
“Obviously I lost out to Lando at the first corner. Oscar did a really good job at defending and it’s always a bit difficult when it’s such a high-speed first corner. I thought I could sneak underneath him and he covered me pretty well.
“But for sure, if we qualified behind Max and the Ferraris yesterday, I don’t think we would have been standing on the podium today. So I think that was pretty crucial.”
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