Oscar Piastri delivered a solid performance at the F1 Chinese GP, securing his third career Formula 1 victory and leading a dominant McLaren 1-2 finish that signals the team’s emergence as serious title contenders.
The 24-year-old Australian controlled the race from start to finish, converting his pole position into a commanding win ahead of teammate Lando Norris, with Mercedes’ George Russell completing the podium.
A great start for Piastri at the F1 Chinese GP
Despite a slightly slower getaway, Piastri managed to fend off pressure from Russell into the first corner and maintained his lead throughout the opening lap. “I was very happy to come through Turn 1 in the lead. I would have been pretty annoyed if I wasn’t,” Piastri remarked after the race. “That was pretty crucial for the first part of the race, especially given that we didn’t really know if it was going to be a one- or a two-stop at that point. And how critical being able to dictate the pace looked yesterday in the Sprint—I was obviously happy to keep the lead.”
The clean start proved crucial for Piastri, as it allowed him to dictate the pace early on—a factor that had proven decisive in Saturday’s Sprint race, which was won by Lewis Hamilton.
Behind the leaders, there was drama as Hamilton and Charles Leclerc made contact, resulting in damage to the Ferrari driver’s front wing. Max Verstappen, starting fourth, uncharacteristically lost two positions in the opening exchanges.
Strategy and tyre management at the F1 Chinese GP
As the race progressed, McLaren executed a flawless strategy to counter Mercedes’ undercut attempt with Russell. Piastri maintained a comfortable gap to teammate Norris, who was instructed to keep a four-second buffer between them to avoid vulnerability to Russell.
“It’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish. The car’s been pretty mega the whole time,” Piastri said. “I think today was a bit of a surprise with how different the tyres behaved, but no, super… yeah, just proud of the whole weekend. This is what I feel like I deserved from last week. No, extremely happy. The team did an amazing job, 1-2 obviously. So yeah, very, very happy.”
When asked about tyre wear being less than expected, Piastri confirmed, “Yes, I think on the Medium it was still a bit tricky, but much better than yesterday.”
“And the Hard was a much better tyre than everyone expected, I think, or certainly than we expected. So yeah, to go all the way to the end like that was a bit of a surprise. But a happy surprise. So, very, very proud of the race we managed to pull off. It wasn’t an easy one going in and yeah, just proud of the whole team and the weekend I’ve been able to pull off.”
Race management
With 10 laps remaining, Piastri held a comfortable 4-second advantage over Norris, who was dealing with brake pedal issues in the closing stages. Despite this challenge, the McLaren pair maintained their positions to secure a historic 1-2 finish for the team.
Behind them, Verstappen mounted a late charge to pass Leclerc for fourth position with just three laps remaining, while Hamilton settled for sixth after showing strong pace with the fastest lap of the race.
When asked if this dominant performance marked the beginning of a title campaign, Piastri responded optimistically, saying, “I hope so. No, it’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish.”
The victory, which follows his previous wins in Hungary and Azerbaijan, felt different for Piastri. “This weekend’s been maybe less emotional than the first two wins I’ve had, but definitely more satisfying,” he explained. “I think it’s been a weekend where I’ve been quite comfortable, been confident in what I needed to do and how I’ve been driving. And I think the race today was… I still had to push and keep my foot on the gas, because the gap, apart from the last few laps, was never that big behind.”
“So I always had to keep on my toes, but I feel like I just managed the race well when I needed to, and pushed when I needed to. So yeah, just very happy with how the whole weekend’s turned out.”
McLaren working as a team
Piastri also highlighted the advantage of having a strong teammate in Norris, with both drivers pushing and learning from each other. “I mean, I think we’ve got different strengths and weaknesses as drivers. And I think this weekend there were certain points where it just worked a bit to my favour, naturally. And I think there’s been other weekends where it definitely hasn’t, and I’ve had to try and look at things from how Lando’s driven and apply them myself.”
He continued, “I think that is definitely the advantage—or an advantage—we have. Having strong team-mates, you always learn from each other. It’s impossible to measure how much lap time you gain from pushing one another, but you do gain something, that’s for sure.”
“I think we always push each other, always learn things. I’ve certainly learned a lot in the last couple of years. Maybe there were some things to learn the other way yesterday, but I think every single weekend we are learning one thing or another from each other.”
