The Shanghai Grand Prix has wrapped up! While it felt uneventful in the moment, some major post-race developments shook things up after the fact.
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) took his first-ever pole this weekend after a disappointing performance in Melbourne last week. Luckily, this week, he converted his pole into a win on the first try. Plus, this marks McLaren’s 50th 1-2 finish. McLaren was very successful this race. Lando Norris (McLaren) had a strong performance and finished second, even though his breaks failed during the latter part of the race.
George Russell (Mercedes) placed third with another solid performance to secure a podium for Mercedes. This should keep them high in the constructors’ rankings. Russell continues to outperform many of the other high scoring teams, including Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who got fourth in this race.
Every race, in addition to the podium, awards a “Driver of the Day.” This weekend, it went to Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes). It was a bit surprising to most people that Oscar didn’t take the honor after such a standout race. Antonelli himself even sounded surprised on his radio message.
The big event that occurred after this race was all the disqualifications. Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) were all found to have cars underweight or against regulation. The Ferrari’s had originally finished P5 and P6, but after disqualification, Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Antonelli moved up in the rankings.
Carlos Sainz (Williams) also scored his first point for Williams. He’s been tough on himself about his performance, even though he knew Williams wouldn’t match Ferrari’s pace. Hopefully, this result gives him a confidence boost.
Liam Lawson (Red Bull) has been the source of controversy this weekend due to his poor performance in comparison to Verstappen. There has even been talk of replacing him as soon as the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks. The talk is that they might put Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB) in the Red Bull seat and either place Lawson in the Racing Bulls seat or even bring another driver on.
On to Suzuka! We’ll see whether people’s predictions about Red Bull are right and what else the next round has in store!
The “High-Octane Herald” is written by Ava O’Donnell and details the latest Formula One news regarding races and current events.