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F1
F1 to 10: Safety cars no match for Verstappen as he storms the Chinese GP
Max Verstappen – and F1 – hadn’t raced in Shanghai since 2019, but that didn't stop Oracle Red Bull Racing’s world champion winning the Chinese Grand Prix for the first time, despite race day drama.
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1. China in exactly 75 words*
Pole-sitter Max Verstappen won the Chinese Grand Prix for the first time, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s reigning Formula One world champion taking his fourth victory in five Grands Prix to begin the season in a stop-start race paused for two safety cars. From second on the grid, Sergio Pérez finished third for his fourth podium of the year, the team-mates split by Lando Norris after the McLaren driver profited from pitting under safety car conditions.
* 2024 is the 75th season of the F1 world championship
2. The Chinese GP in six pics
Verstappen and Pérez shared the podium for the fourth time in 2024
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Max makes it across the Shanghai line first for the first time
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Judging by the crowds in China, they weren't the only ones to skip work
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Verstappen's sixth consecutive pole was his first in China
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
3. Max Verstappen sprints to near-maximum score
Verstappen had to nail the start and two restarts, but cleared away quickly
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Proof that much had changed since F1 last came to China before this weekend in 2019? Then, Verstappen was two years away from his first world title and had five Grand Prix wins to his name. Sunday’s victory was his 53rd in the 106 races since – a near 50 percent winning ratio for the Dutchman, who won by 13 seconds after having to survive two safety car periods for incidents further down the field.
It was close to a flawless return to China for Verstappen, who – after winning the season’s first Sprint race on Saturday morning, coincidentally also by 13 seconds – took his fifth pole position in a row to start a season, something no driver has done since 1999 when McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen achieved the same feat.
Verstappen only ceded the lead to Norris during the first pit-stop phase of the race and never looked like relinquishing his iron grip over the rest of the field, only Fernando Alonso’s late fastest lap of the race for Aston Martin denying him an extra point to cap a perfect weekend.
Verstappen’s pole was Oracle Red Bull Racing’s 100th and came at the site of the very first in 2009 with Sebastian Vettel, the weekend when the team also won its first race.
Pérez, meanwhile, could count himself unlucky not to make it a fourth 1-2 result for the team in five races this season. Third in Saturday’s Sprint race, the Mexican was in second place on Sunday when Norris benefitted from taking a pit stop when the field was neutralized under the safety car when Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber ground to a halt on lap 21.
McLaren elected to pursue a one-stop strategy for Norris while both Verstappen and Pérez pitted twice, which left Pérez behind Norris and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) when the race resumed on lap 32 after a full safety car.
Pérez passed Leclerc with 17 laps left to get back onto the podium, but ran out of laps and tyre grip to hunt Norris down, finishing 19.160secs behind Verstappen. Third place, though, was comfortably his most fruitful foray to Shanghai, his previous best coming when he finished eighth for Racing Point in 2019.
4. Contact crushes Visa Cash App RB’s hopes
Not even Ricciardo's pit crew could fix the damage after his unlucky shunt
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
There were just three retirements from the Chinese Grand Prix; unfortunately, Visa Cash App RB team-mates Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were two of them after they were hit in separate incidents within moments of one another as the race restarted after the safety car caused by Bottas parking up.
As the field prepared to resume the race, Alonso outbraked himself at the Turn 14 hairpin and checked up, the resultant concertina effect seeing Ricciardo’s RB sent skywards by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who ran into the back of Ricciardo and earned a 10-second penalty for the error.
Ricciardo, who out-qualified Tsunoda for the first time this season and looked an outside chance for a points finish, suffered extensive floor damage in the incident and had to retire a few laps later.
Tsunoda, meanwhile, was hit by Kevin Magnussen (Haas) at Turn 6 at the restart and taken out of the race with a right-rear puncture and damage to the back of his car, which saw Magnussen issued his own 10-second penalty. It was the Japanese driver’s first non-finish of the year and came after he qualified a season-worst 19th.
5. What's the single Grand Prix on the calendar Max Verstappen's yet to win?
1: Verstappen’s victory in Shanghai means there’s now only one Grand Prix on the 24-race calendar – Singapore – he’s yet to win.
6. Max Verstappen's post-race feeling
The car was basically on rails and I could do whatever I wanted to with it, those kinds of weekends are amazing to feel. To achieve what we did this weekend is fantastic.
7. The Formula 1 2024 stats that matter
Drivers' Championship top 5
Position
Driver
Team
Points
Gap
1
Max Verstappen
Oracle Red Bull Racing
110
-
2
Sergio Pérez
Oracle Red Bull Racing
85
-25
3
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
76
-34
4
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
69
-41
5
Lando Norris
McLaren
58
-52
Constructors' Championship 2024 top 5
Position
Team
Points
Gap
1
Oracle Red Bull Racing
195
-
2
Ferrari
151
-44
3
McLaren
96
-99
4
Mercedes
52
-143
5
Aston Martin
40
-155
8. F1 drivers on jet skis to stints as life guards
The (Un)Serious Race Series was a hit in Season 1 last year and let's be honest, who wouldn’t want to see F1 drivers go head-to-head atop jet skis, in monster trucks and on hovercrafts? Which is why Season 2 kicked off in Australia last month, where Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen and Pérez took on Visa Cash App RB duo Ricciardo and Tsunoda on the Aussie beach in a surf live-saving challenge.
Drivers out of their comfort zones and cockpits – but in control of non-F1 machinery like the Can-Am Commander – means laughs, thrills and spills and chaos is a given. To give this year’s first challenge a distinctly Aussie flavor, snowboarding legend Scotty James and current world number one surfer Molly Picklum were in charge of judging Down Under.
Did local hero Ricciardo have an advantage? Could Max and Checo turn the tables in ‘enemy’ territory? Watch the video below to find out.
7 min
Formula One drivers race as Australian surf lifesavers
Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda race Can-Am Commanders in Melbourne.
9. Where's the next F1 race, and what do I need to know?
Round 6 (Miami), May 3-5
Circuit name/location: Miami International Autodrome, Florida
Length/laps: 5.412km, 57 laps (Sprint: 19 laps)
Grands Prix held/debut: 2, 2022
Most successful driver: Max Verstappen (two wins)
Most successful team: Oracle Red Bull Racing (two wins)
2023 race recap: 1st: Max Verstappen (Oracle Red Bull Racing), 2nd: Sergio Pérez (Oracle Red Bull Racing), 3rd: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
10. Inside the wide world of Red Bull Motorsports
Martín took his sixth MotoGP™ victory in Portugal in March
© Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
Spanish MotoGP™ star Jorge Martín rides as he speaks – fast, quick to get to the point, and keen to move on to the next thing. It’s a formula that’s worked wonders on track, with the 26-year-old from Madrid moving on from last year’s breakout third season in the world’s premier two-wheel motorsport category by raising his game to another level in 2024.
Runner-up to factory Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia a year ago, the Prima Pramac Racing Ducati man sits atop the world championship after three rounds this season, finishing no worse than fourth place across six races in Sprints and Grands Prix in Qatar, Portugal and the most recent race in Austin, Texas.
We caught up with the rapid Martín just ahead of the 2024 campaign to talk about preparation for the sport’s longest-ever season, why MotoGP™ is more competitive than ever, and who should be considered a favorite for the world champion’s crown. You won’t be surprised who ‘The Martinator’ has his money on …
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