It was an easy start for Max and he was clean away in the lead. Alonso made quick work of passing Perez though. I wonder if Horner considered putting Fernando in that seat for this year or next? The Ferraris had an awful start and it was mixed for Mercedes with Russell gaining 2 places and Hamilton falling to 19th.
The first set of pit stops were fast and frantic with a rogue tyre from Gasly hurting a mechanic and some near miss collisions in the rush to be out ahead. By this point, Alonso was down in 9th and he would continue to yo-yo up and down the field.
In a battle for 14th, Ricciardo overtook his team mate; it seemed like this new chassis he has been given by his time is allowing him to show his truer pace. Although he needs to become more flexible as a driver and less demanding of exactly how the car is created.
Midway through the race Bottas' engine went and he stopped at a corner (home boy Zhou was much more likely to finish ahead of his team mate thus). They initially tried to remove it under double-waved yellow flags but then brought out a Virtual Safety Car order. As this happened, Norris had just gone past the pit entry but his main competition LeClerc was right there and the battle of the one-stoppers had a little sweet chilli sauce thrown on it. Then Norris got an extra lap under the VSC and was able to have an easy stop too. We watched on as the marshals struggled to move the Sauber, which was stuck in gear. This couldn't go on and a full Safety Car was deployed and Verstappen pitted straight away. I'm not sure how the change helped the marshals. Alonso also pitted and took on the soft tyres to bring the fight.
Having whinged about the first set of tyres, Hamilton now radioed in that he thought something on the car was broken. With his move to Ferrari, I'm not sure the mechanics cared. I think they've switched off the radio. I don't think they even check the car over before they sent it out.
Just as everyone got going at the restart there was madness in the midfield - firstly we saw Tsnuoda going off and as we thought we saw what had happened to him, we released that what we were watching was actually Stroll going into the back of his team mate Ricciardo at the restart. Stroll claimed Ricciardo braked late but we all know that Stroll is just a poor driver. A disaster for the Racing Bulls as both cars were damaged. This brought Burt and his Safety Car straight back out.
At this point, we watched more replays. Magnussen took Tsunoda out. Alonso had locked up and caused the train of cars behind him to have to brake harder, however Stroll was so close behind Ricciardo already that the RB's tyres were up under his front wing.
Stroll was awarded a 10 second penalty for the incident, as Ricciardo retired the car; Magnussen was similarly punished for taking the other RB out. Sargeant was handed a penalty for a Safety Car infringement but we never found out what that was. As Stroll served the penalty he claimed it was a "joke", I don't think he realised that Daddy couldn't help him with this one.
Through all this, Hamilton was making his way back up from 19th and had some slower cars and some damaged cars to get past.
At the close of the race, Alonso pitted for new tyres and we had the pleasure of watching him cut back up through the pack. Behind him Gasly and Albon continued to radio in about each other's poor behaviour; I feel a new rivalry is brewing. He finished the race in 8th but claimed an extra point for Fastest Lap.
There was an extraordinary amount of coverage of Zhou and he had a special parking space in front of the main grand stand to give the crowd a wave. F1 is really chasing the Chinese market.
We didn't see much of the top 3, Verstappen, Norris and Perez until the last lap and podium. Norris was surprised to be second and let slip that he had believed they wouldn't get past the Ferraris. The Red Bull drivers weren't surprised by anything.
The next race is Miami, which is a little more challenging and can bring the crazy. This was an enjoyable race, as always, if you don't watch the front too much.
Ricciardo - new chassis
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