F1 Chinese GP: Five quick takeaways

Here's what we thought after the second race of the season...

Piastri emerges as Norris' main title challenger

Despite early struggles in Shanghai, McLaren has confirmed its status as early-season favourite in the main race. However, the same can't be said for Lando Norris. The British driver had a messy weekend and clearly didn't get the most out of it. The sprint was particularly poor for Norris, who made life difficult for himself with a mistake on the first lap.

It was Oscar Piastri who was the clear frontrunner for McLaren in Shanghai, and with second place on Saturday and victory on Sunday, the Australian has now put himself in a position to be Norris' main challenger for the title this year - as it looks increasingly unlikely that other teams can catch McLaren.

Piastri cut his deficit from 23 points to just 10 in China - and with a dominant performance on Sunday, he looks like a driver ready to challenge for the title in 2025.

- Oleg Karpov

Verstappen is right: Red Bull 4th team in F1, but he is compensating

Max Verstappen was very clear when he faced the Dutch media after qualifying in the Shanghai paddock. The main headlines from his session? Red Bull is the fourth team in F1 and Liam Lawson would be quicker in the Racing Bulls car.

Verstappen added that a podium on Sunday wouldn't be realistic, and he was proved right. In both the sprint and the main race, Red Bull struggled massively on the medium tyres. With the hard tyres on the RB21, the pace was much better, but still not to the Dutchman's liking.

Verstappen believes the real picture is worse than it looks, with the world champion squeezing every millisecond out of the Red Bull package. One look at the second car is enough to see how worrying the current situation is, especially if Red Bull wants to finish 2025 with at least one world title...

- Ronald Vording

We do not understand much about Ferrari

While Lewis Hamilton took first place in qualifying and a relatively easy win in the sprint, Frederic Vasseur confessed to Canal+ on Saturday that he "no longer understands much about racing", as his drivers only managed fifth and sixth in qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images)

After Sunday, it is hard to understand: Charles Leclerc, who had been struggling all weekend, nearly ended the race for both SF-25s when he made contact with his team-mate in the first corner and broke a large part of his front wing.

So we thought his race was going in the wrong direction... But in the end it was quite the opposite: despite a loss of "20 to 30 points" in aerodynamic efficiency, Leclerc had never looked so comfortable and quick, to the extent that he had to swap positions with Hamilton – less impressive than on Friday – to give him a chance to catch Russell! And then he was later caught by Verstappen...

In short, after Melbourne, Ferrari's real performance (without damage) remains a bit of a mystery.

- Fabien Gaillard

It's not all bad for Haas

Haas' first laps of the 2025 F1 season at the Australian GP were so bad that team boss Ayao Komatsu was surprised to find that nothing was broken on the car. After qualifying last there, the team identified a fundamental issue that could see them stuck at the back of the grid - but the sun came out for the team in China.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

Ocon came close to making Q3 on Saturday and held on for points in the race, finishing seventh ahead of a Mercedes.

Perhaps the most sensible approach is to wait a few more races before defining the pecking order in an extremely tight midfield where it's still unclear which team is bottom. In China it was Sauber, but the search for the backmarker continues...

- Jose Carlos de Celis

Alpine caught out by FIA's stricter flexibility rules?

Alpine had shown good pace at both the Bahrain test and Melbourne, but China was a different story for the Enstone-based outfit, as neither Pierre Gasly nor Jack Doohan were able to progress from SQ1 and Q1 in the qualifying sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix.

While the race looked better with Gasly in P11, what has changed in a week? The FIA's stricter rear wing flexibility rule change. Alpine racing director Dave Greenwood confirmed that the team had to make some last-minute changes to ensure they complied with the reduction in rear wing flexibility.

Asked on Saturday if the rule change was the reason for Alpine's drop in pace at a track that features one of the longest straights on the calendar, Doohan was light-hearted: "Fortunately I'm the driver, not the engineer". He is probably right, as it looks like the team will have to do some behind-the-scenes work for Suzuka.

- Federico Faturos