China GP Race Report

As with the Sprint race, Lawson was going to be starting in the pit lane.  Oil had been spilled on the main straight as well.  The worst indignity though was Brundle having to interview a Chinese influencer dressed as a unicorn.   He interrupted Antonelli and Bearman chatting, they claimed they were discussing the wind direction but we all know they were talking about Fortnite.

Several drivers were under investigation before the race even started, for not performing their practice race starts correctly.  Given that the rule had only been clarified that morning, there was no excuse.

It was racy but clean off the start.  The action had to play out over a few corners before we definitely knew the running order.  Norris overtook Russell for 2nd.  As LeClerc was overtaking Verstappen, he slightly bumped the rear of Hamilton.  I don't know how Hulkenberg lost 7 places off the start.

The first retirement was Alonso in his Aston Martin, as his brakes caught fire and then went completely.

As the first round of pit stops came and went, Norris lost out to Russell as Piastri pitted first.  A lap or two later, he took the place back.  The Williams were among the cars who didn't go early and Albon led the race on his birthday, not for very long though.  LeClerc was due to change his front wing but didn't.

Unusually and surprisingly, Hamilton spotted that he was holding his team mate up as he struggled with tyres.  He radioed in and the cars swapped places.

There were various bits of overtaking, as cars tried to get back into some kind of regular order.  LeClerc commented on how good the Mercedes were running.

The overtaking petered out towards the end of the race.  Doohan received a penalty for pushing Hadjar off the track.  Tsunoda's front wing broke of it's own accord and he had to pit for a new one.  Norris's brake went long and he would have to ease up.  Verstappen took 4th place from LeClerc with 3 laps to go.

Norris's brake situation became critical with 1 lap to go.  We barely saw his team mate all race.  McLaren managed their one-two finish. Russell fought a little harder and got the last podium place.  Antonelli won Driver of the Day for starting 8th and finishing 8th.  His family must have rung up a large phone bill.

After the race, some of the checks revealed some necessary disqualifications.  Hamilton was first, for blocks for being too small.  LeClerc and Gasly for being underweight.  

Ocon ended up with 5th place and Bearman in 5th so that was a big points haul for Haas.  Antonelli was 6th.  Albon was 7th and Sainz was 10th, so some points for Williams.  We'll have to hope that the next track suits them better.  Stroll was the other points finisher in 9th.  If the big teams are going to make cock-ups, you need to be ready to pick up the points.

For the rookie report: Doohan was scrappy and penalised for it, Lawson had a could-do-better 12th, I don't think we've seen Bortoleto's face yet.