Oscar Piastri ensured that redemption was successful as he won the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix for McLaren. The Australian driver, who won his third race, secured pole position in qualifying and maintained his P1 on the podium. Piastri’s teammate and Australian GP winner Lando Norris could not repeat his Melbourne heroics and finished at P2 on Sunday. With this, the Piastri-Norris duo ensured the first 1-2 finish on the podium in 2025 for McLaren. Overall, the Papayas secured their 50th P1-P2 finish on the podium.
Meanwhile, things remained the same for Mercedes and George Russell, particularly. The Briton, driving the W16 #63, finished at P3 yet again, helping the Silver Arrows gain more crucial points in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship for the 2025 season. Russell’s P3 also meant that Mercedes completed a special milestone of 300 podiums. Out of this, George Russell has featured on the podium 16 times.
But overall, the Chinese Grand Prix had its share of the good, the bad, and the ugly. For Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, and the McLaren crew, it was a good day at the office. Here’s a recap of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix.
The Redemption of Oscar Piastri and McLaren Domination
After winning qualifying to secure pole position, Piastri had his eyes set on the chequered flag. The Australian had a rough time at Melbourne, despite starting at P2. The weather conditions made things difficult for the drivers, and Oscar Piastri was not spared by the rain gods on the circuit. During the race, Piastri slipped onto the grass patch, and one disaster followed another. What could have been a possible victory (or at least a top-three finish on the podium) ended up being a P9 finish for the Aussie, driving the McLaren #81.
Piastri was determined to bounce back, and he did so in style in Shanghai. Without forgetting the home Grand Prix disaster, Piastri shared his happiness after the race, saying:
“It’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish. The car’s been pretty mega the whole time. I think today was a bit of a surprise with how the tyres behaved but just super proud of the whole weekend.”
“This is what I feel like I deserved from last week, so [I’m] extremely happy. The team did a mega job, 1-2 obviously. Very, very happy.”
The Otherside of Chinese Grand Prix
While McLaren basked in their glory, things were not great for Ferrari. The Prancing Horse was notified after the race that both their drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, were disqualified. The same fate followed for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. For both Leclerc and Gasly, it was Article 4.1 of the Technical Regulations, as their cars were found to be underweight.
FIA F1 Technical Delegate Jo Bauer reported that Leclerc’s car initially met the minimum weight requirement of 800kg when he returned to the pits after the race. Since Leclerc had damaged his front wing early on in a collision with teammate Hamilton, officials re-weighed the car with the recovered endplate and then with an official spare front wing, bringing the total weight up to 800.5kg.
However, after Ferrari followed the standard fuel draining procedure and removed two liters from the car, its weight dropped to 799kg—just below the legal limit. Similarly, Gasly’s car also weighed exactly 800kg at the finish. But after Alpine removed 1.1kg of fuel during the mandatory check, his car, too, fell to 799kg.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s Ferrari #44 was found to be violating Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations. When officials inspected the skid wear on his car, as per Technical Directive TD039, they found that the plank assembly was slightly thinner than the required minimum.
Measurements were taken at three different points along the stiffness-compliant area on the inner arc. The recorded thickness was 8.6mm on the left side, 8.6mm at the centerline, and 8.5mm on the right side.
Following the discussion, Ferrari released the followed statement
Following the FIA post-race scrutineering both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons. Car 16 was found to be underweight by 1 kg and car 44’s rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5mm below the limit. Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight. With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin.
There was no intention to gain any advantage. We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again. Clearly it’s not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was the first to crash out of the race after a brake failure.
The Ones In The Middle
Defending Drivers’ champion Max Verstappen could not make it to the podium. The Red Bull number #1 finished at P4 despite a tough fight. But problems continue for his teammate Liam Lawson, who ended at P12 in a race where four drivers were DNF. The Kiwi’s ongoing struggles cast doubt on his future with the RB21. Speculation continues to rise, especially after team principal Christian Horner’s post-race interview. When asked about Lawson potentially being substituted for the upcoming Japanese GP, Horner said:
“Look, I think everything is purely speculative at the moment. As I say, we’ve just finished this race, we’re going to take away the info and have a good look at it.”
“I think Liam still has got potential, we’re just not realising that at the moment. I think the problem for him is he’s had a couple of really tough weekends and he’s got all the media on his back.
“The pressure just naturally grows in this business. I feel very sorry for him that he’s… you can see it’s very tough on him at the moment.“
“He’s a young guy, we’ve got a duty to look after him. We’re going to do the best that we can to support him. Liam’s still a very capable driver, we know that, we’re just not… for whatever reason, we’re not seeing him able to deliver that at the moment.”
It was a good comeback for Haas, as both Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman secured top-10 finishes. The Frenchman, driving the #31, finished P5, while his British teammate bounced back by securing P8 for Haas after his DNF in the Australian GP. Things were close yet so far for Racing Bulls, specifically Isack Hadjar. The French rookie, driving the VCARB 02 #6, finished at P11 in Shanghai. His Japanese teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, finished last at P16, following the exits of Leclerc, Hamilton, Gasly, and Alonso from the race.
For Williams Racing, the contrast continues for the Carbon duo. Alexander Albon was ultimately given P7, but his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz Jr.’s struggles continue with the FW47. After the disqualifications of Leclerc, Hamilton, and Gasly, Sainz barely managed to finish in the top 10, securing P10. Mercedes’ rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli maintained his qualifying position, finishing the race at P8. Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg finished P14 and P15, respectively.
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