F1 | GP CHINA, THE POINT GIAN CARLO MINARDI “NORRIS AND ALONSO TO BE APPLAUDED”
Max Verstappen won again, but an excellent Lando Norris slipped in between the two Red Bulls. After having taken pole position of the Sprint race, thwarted by the first metres of the race, he was impeccable in the grand prix confirming that McLaren is on the rise and ready to “annoy” Ferrari.
Precisely Ferrari had to settle for fourth and fifth place, the fruit of hard qualifying, which confirmed the difficulty of the Hard tyres, paying a gap of almost half a second from the direct rivals from Woking. Major updates are needed to try and oppose McLaren’s attack and to try and get closer to Red Bull. The infighting between Leclerc and Sainz certainly made people talk, especially during the Sprint race. It was a fair tussle, it will certainly not be the first nor the last, but they will have to try to manage better next time, and above all talk about it within the team.
Verstappen continues to make the difference in Red Bull putting almost 20 seconds between him and his teammate, despite two safety cars. He only missed out on the fastest lap. It was set by an excellent Alonso (1’37″810), seventh across the line and the protagonist of a race, running constantly on the attack. Aware of the limits of his Aston Martin, he played the card of an extra pitstop, covering the final part of the race with a new set of Medium tyres, climbing up to behind Russell, sixth with the Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton also climbed back with a Mercedes showing some signs of growth. Starting from the rear (18th) he finished the race in ninth place, ahead of an excellent Nico Hulkenberg who gave Haas a precious point in view of the constructors’ world championship.
Perez, third across the line, was slowed by the second double stint of the second safety car caused by Stroll’s collision with Ricciardo. Racing Bulls finished the weekend with zero points, also following Tsunoda’s retirement caused by Kevin Magnussen.
There were also signs of recovery from Alpine after a disastrous start of the season with Ocon eleventh across the line. The points box is still empty, but we are beginning to see the fruits of the first developments of the A524.
Gian Carlo Minardi
