2025 Chinese Grand Prix Results and Surprises: McLaren Dominates
The Calm Before the Storm: McLaren’s Metronomic March
If you’d told me in 2019 that McLaren would be the team to beat in Shanghai, I’d have asked if you’d been drinking the hospitality suite’s leftover Prosecco. Yet here we are: Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris delivered McLaren’s 50th 1-2 finish, a feat that would have made Ron Dennis raise an eyebrow in approval and perhaps even smile—though let’s not get carried away.
Piastri, still stinging from his Melbourne mishap, was flawless all weekend. He took pole with a 1:30.641, then led every lap of the Grand Prix, never putting a wheel wrong. Norris, meanwhile, played the loyal lieutenant, finishing 9.7 seconds adrift after a late-race brake scare. George Russell, Mercedes’ quiet assassin, rounded out the podium, just over a second behind Norris.
George Russell, Mercedes, after qualifying P2:
That was a good one … Ahh I f—— like F1 when it comes together.
The Shanghai International Circuit, with its endless straights and technical corners, has always been a barometer for car balance and tyre management. McLaren’s MCL39 passed with flying papaya colours, while Red Bull and Ferrari found themselves mired in the midfield, a phrase that would have been heresy just two years ago.
The Sprint: Hamilton’s Brief Ferrari Fairytale
Before Sunday’s main event, the weekend’s first Sprint race of 2025 delivered its own drama. Lewis Hamilton, still acclimatising to life in red, rolled back the years to take a commanding Sprint victory—his first for Ferrari. For a fleeting moment, the Tifosi dared to dream.
But as is so often the case with Ferrari, the dream dissolved into a familiar nightmare. The main race saw both Hamilton and Leclerc struggle for outright pace, and the post-race scrutineering would turn their weekend from disappointing to disastrous.
See Sprint Qualifying Highlights
The Race: Piastri’s Redemption, Norris’ Nerves, and Russell’s Resilience
The Grand Prix itself was, by modern standards, a tactical affair. Piastri controlled the pace from the front, Norris shadowed him until a developing brake issue forced him to back off, and Russell kept the McLarens honest, briefly snatching second during the pit cycle.
Max Verstappen, who started fourth, found himself in the unfamiliar position of damage limitation. The Red Bull RB21, once the class of the field, now looked positively mortal. Verstappen finished a muted fourth, his radio messages a symphony of frustration.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, on outscoring Norris despite a lacklustre car:
Is that so? I think it is [positive], if you look at it like that! If you look at our pace compared to the rest.
Behind the leaders, Esteban Ocon delivered a minor miracle for Haas, finishing fifth and reminding everyone that, in F1, yesterday’s backmarker can be today’s hero—provided the wind blows in the right direction and the technical directives don’t change overnight.
Haas’ Surprise Double Points Haul!
The Disqualification Debacle: Ferrari’s Double Disaster
Just when you thought Ferrari’s weekend couldn’t get any worse, the stewards intervened. Charles Leclerc, who had finished fifth on the road, was disqualified for an underweight car—a cardinal sin in the age of digital scales and CFD. Hamilton, who had inherited Leclerc’s position, was then disqualified for excessive plank wear. Pierre Gasly’s Alpine suffered the same fate for being underweight.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari:
We have to look at the things that we didn’t do so well, and we’re critical of ourselves. We take accountability, each and every single one of us, and then look at how we can rectify those [points]. That’s what we’ve been doing. I’m really proud of the guys, because we’re taking a beating in the media and people’s comments, people judging. I’m just proud that each weekend that they turn up with their heads up. They try, they give absolutely everything, and that’s all you can ever ask.
It was Ferrari’s first double disqualification in their storied history, and it left the team reeling. The Scuderia’s technical team cited “genuine errors,” but in a sport where margins are measured in millimetres and milliseconds, such mistakes are unforgivable.
Read: Chinese Grand Prix F1 2025 race result: Hamilton, Leclerc, Gasly disqualified
Winners and Losers: Haas’ High, Ferrari’s Fall, and Red Bull’s Reckoning
Winners:
- Oscar Piastri: Calm, clinical, and now a bona fide title contender. His third career win may be the foundation of a championship campaign.
- McLaren: 50th 1-2 finish, and a car that looks as comfortable on its tyres as a cat in a sunbeam.
- Haas: Ocon and Bearman delivered a double points finish, a remarkable turnaround from their Australian agony.
Losers:
- Ferrari: From Sprint glory to double DSQ ignominy. The only thing more consistent than their inconsistency is their ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
- Red Bull: Verstappen’s fourth place was a masterclass in damage limitation, but the RB21’s lack of pace is now a glaring concern.
- Liam Lawson: Another weekend to forget, with rumours swirling about his future at Red Bull.
Winners and losers from F1’s 2025 Chinese Grand Prix
The Midfield Mayhem: Haas, Williams, and the Alpine Agony
The midfield was, as ever, a cauldron of chaos. Haas, written off after Melbourne, found a sweet spot in Shanghai’s smooth tarmac. Esteban Ocon’s fifth and Oliver Bearman’s eighth (promoted to seventh after the DSQs) were just reward for a team that’s spent more time in the stewards’ room than the podium in recent years.
Williams, too, capitalised on the post-race carnage. Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz both scored points, a rare double for the Grove outfit. Alpine, meanwhile, continued their season of woe, with Gasly’s disqualification compounding a weekend best forgotten.
Full race results and analysis
The Rookie Report: Antonelli’s Ascent, Bearman’s Breakthrough
Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes’ Italian prodigy, quietly notched up sixth place, showing maturity beyond his years. Ollie Bearman, fresh from his F2 graduation, delivered points for Haas and a reminder that the next generation is ready to pounce.
Ollie Bearman, Haas, on the pressure facing rookies:
I think it is very difficult to have that situation and pressure weighing over your head from race one, I can only imagine is a horrible situation. I feel like his treatment was very unfair, and coming from his position as a rookie myself, it is very difficult, especially in the first half of the season.
The Statistical Snapshot: Shanghai by the Numbers
- Pole Position: Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:30.641
- Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 1:34.112 (before DSQ)
- Race Winner: Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:30:55.026
- Podium: Piastri (McLaren), Norris (McLaren), Russell (Mercedes)
- Disqualifications: Leclerc (Ferrari), Hamilton (Ferrari), Gasly (Alpine)
- Retirements: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – brake failure
See the full qualifying grid and surprises
The Human Drama: Quotes from the Paddock
The paddock was abuzz with speculation, recrimination, and the odd moment of gallows humour. Norris, ever the pragmatist, admitted to mistakes that cost him a shot at victory. Russell, buoyed by his podium, was effusive in his praise for the Mercedes team. Verstappen, meanwhile, cut a frustrated figure, his championship defence already looking precarious.
Liam Lawson, Red Bull, on the pressures facing young drivers:
I think he showed enough to stay in Formula 1, for sure. But also, it’s hard — how can you be expected in five races to show everything you have, especially in your rookie season? Unfortunately, it’s very cutthroat.
The Historical Parallels: When Rules Bite Back
Ferrari’s double DSQ is a reminder that, in F1, the stewards’ office is as influential as the pit wall. The last time a major team suffered such ignominy was McLaren’s exclusion from the 2007 constructors’ championship. In both cases, the fallout was seismic, and the repercussions will echo through Maranello for months to come.
The Road Ahead: McLaren’s Momentum, Ferrari’s Soul-Searching
As the circus packs up and heads to Imola, the questions are many. Can McLaren maintain their momentum? Will Red Bull find answers to their technical woes? And can Ferrari, once the sport’s gold standard, rediscover the discipline and attention to detail that made them legends?
If history teaches us anything, it’s that F1 is a sport of cycles. Today’s heroes are tomorrow’s scapegoats, and vice versa. But for now, Oscar Piastri stands atop the world, McLaren are back in business, and Ferrari are left to pick up the pieces—again.
