After five years away, Formula One is back in China this weekend for the FORMULA 1 LENOVO CHINESE GRAND PRIX 2024. We got a taste of racing action at the Shanghai Internation Circuit with the first of six sprint races scheduled for this season. Due to a rainy sprint qualifying session, it was a very shuffled grid, leading to an exciting 19-lap race.
Lewis Hamilton had a steller get away from the first row on the grid, putting him slightly ahead of pole sitter Lando Norris into the long first corner. Norris tried to hang on around the outside of the seemingly never-ending first corner but slid out wide. The track proved very slippery, thanks to the rain on Friday that washed away any rubber on the circuit. Norris quickly dropped down to P7, briefly fighting with Charles Leclerc.
The top drivers spread out in the opening laps and it took seven laps for Max Verstappen, who inherited P3, to get within DRS range of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. Once he did, Alonso was a sitting duck down the long back straight with DRS, dropping down to P3. He quickly fell to become the leader of a DRS train with the two Ferraris and the other Red Bull.
In clean air, Verstappen began chasing down Hamilton. He was helped largely by a big lockup from Hamilton in the hard-braking turn-14 hairpin. This brought Verstappen within DRS range of the Mercedes, allowing him to repeat the move he had made a couple of laps earlier on Alonso. Now leading the race, Verstappen could pull a comfortable gap to Hamilton in P2.
Further behind, Alonso was the cork in the bottle holding back the rest of the top seven drivers. As the laps ticked down, the tension bubbled up until it popped with just a few laps remaining.
Tired of looking at the back of the Aston Martin, Carlos Sainz tried to dive outside turn six. Alonso saw it coming and squeezed the Ferrari right to the edge at the corner entry. Sainz tried the switchback to come wheel-to-wheel in turn seven and the duo touched wheels. With Sainz still narrowly ahead, Alonso attempted a lunge up the inside for turn nine, bumping the Ferrari wide. This allowed Sergio Perez to sneak past.
With Alonso backing off due to a puncture that ultimately saw him dive into the pit lane to retire, Sainz kept his elbows out to try and fend off his teammate. Charles Leclerc tried his luck on the outside of the hairpin and the teammates bumped rear wheels. Leclerc managed to get the position from his teammate in the opening corners. Sainz, whose car was wounded by his battle with Alonso, managed to cling onto a top-five finish.
Max Verstappen did what he’s done many times this season, picking up _ points toward his championship total. Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez finished P2 and P3, respectively.
This was only the first of two Formula One races on schedule this weekend. Next up is the main event on Sunday afternoon.
UPDATE: After the race, Fernando Alonso was handed a 10-second penalty for his battle with Carlos Sainz. Since he retired, it had no impact on the race result, although he did earn three points on his FIA Super Licence.
