F1 Chinese GP: Piastri wins in dominant McLaren 1-2

Oscar Piastri secured victory at the Chinese Grand Prix as he benefited from putting his McLaren on pole position to avoid the tyre issues of the chasing pack.

With tyre management the order of the day throughout the field, Piastri was able to control his race and took the third win of his career, leading home team-mate Lando Norris, who was forced to manage a worsening brake issue in the closing stages.

George Russell was too far adrift to pass Norris despite the tumbling pace of his compatriot but sealed consecutive third-place finishes for 2025.

A half-century of one-two finishes in the history of McLaren showed it is again the team to beat at present.

Max Verstappen put in a strong performance to finish fourth for Red Bull, leading home the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Having been the worst team on the grid in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Haas secured a double points finish with Esteban Ocon seventh and a feisty Oliver Bearman 10th.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team (Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images)

Andrea Kimi Antonelli held on to his eighth-place starting position to score points in back-to-back races, with Alexander Albon ninth for Williams.

Piastri squeezed Russell off the line, allowing Norris to make a move as the Papaya Rules saw the McLaren team-mates work together to lead the field.

It was the opposite story at Ferrari, however, as Leclerc clipped Hamilton and suffered wing damage, although the duo did both pass Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Fernando Alonso was forced to retire on lap four as the brakes on his Aston Martin gave up the ghost.

Meanwhile, Norris was complaining of graining on the troublesome left-front tyre with just eight laps on the board, with Piastri taking advantage of running in clean air.

The pitstop window opened on lap 11 as Leclerc disagreed with his team over which plan to implement, as the Monegasque ran close behind his team-mate.

The undercut worked well for the midfield runners and lower points positions, with Yuki Tsunoda getting past Antonelli.

Both Hamilton and Verstappen stopped on lap 14, with Piastri boxing a lap later and having a slower stop than he would have wanted as he was stationary for 3.8 seconds.

Norris was in a lap later and lost out to Russell, who came in a lap earlier to regain his net second place in the grand prix, but it lasted just one lap before the McLaren retook the position into turn one the next time around.

On his 29th birthday, Albon inherited the lead, having not stopped yet, but soon fell into the clutches of the overall frontrunners.

Elsewhere, Hamilton was resisting requests from Ferrari to swap places with Leclerc, with both homing in on Russell, but begrudgingly ceded to the team call at the start of lap 21.

McLaren was managing its two lead drivers well, Piastri pushing the pace to allow Norris to follow suit and pull further clear of Russell without entering the dirty air of the race leader.

As those two-stopping started to pit again, the leaders were quick enough to stay out on the hard compound, with Verstappen coming alive and chasing the pack.

Hamilton opted to pit on lap 38 for fresh hard tyres in the aim of catching the top five towards the end of the race, although it did not pan out for the winner of Saturday’s sprint race.

The Racing Bulls of Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar also both opted for a second stop and were cutting through the field towards the top 10 until Tsunoda suffered a front wing issue and Hadjar was run wide by Jack Doohan’s Alpine, who was hit with a 10-second penalty as a result.

Out front, Norris reported a brake issue as the pitwall urged caution rather than pushing to close in on Piastri in the closing stages.

There was no such warning for Verstappen, who attacked Leclerc and got through with three laps left.

Piastri took the chequered flag and Norris nursed the second McLaren over the line despite losing over three seconds to the chasing Russell on the last lap.

Chinese Grand Prix results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81	56				1	25		McLaren	Mercedes
2	L. Norris McLaren	4	56	9.748			1	18		McLaren	Mercedes
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63	56	11.097			1	15		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	56	16.656			1	12		Red Bull	Red Bull
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	56	23.211			1	10		Ferrari	Ferrari
6	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	56	25.381			2	8		Ferrari	Ferrari
7	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	56	49.969			1	6		Haas	Ferrari
8	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	56	53.748			1	4		Mercedes	Mercedes
9	A. Albon Williams	23	56	56.321			1	2		Williams	Mercedes
10	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	56	1'01.303			1	1		Haas	Ferrari
11	P. Gasly Alpine	10	56	1'07.195			1			Alpine	Renault
12	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	56	1'10.204			1			Aston Martin	Mercedes
13	C. Sainz Williams	55	56	1'16.387			1			Williams	Mercedes
14	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	56	1'18.875			2			RB	Honda
15	L. Lawson Red Bull Racing	30	56	1'21.147			2			Red Bull	Red Bull
16	J. Doohan Alpine	7	56	1'28.401			1			Alpine	Renault
17	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	55	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
18	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	55	1 lap			1			Sauber	Ferrari
19	Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls	22	55	1 lap			3			RB	Honda
dnf	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	4	52 laps			1		Brakes	Aston Martin	Mercedes
View full results