Chinese GP takeaways: Piastri's redemption, Ferrari's double disaster

Welcome back to another season of Formula 1. We'll offer our takeaways following each race weekend this year. Here are our thoughts after the Chinese Grand Prix.

Moments that decided the race 👀

Piastri's finest weekend

Oscar Piastri left his home grand prix in Australia with his head hung low after throwing away a spot on the podium. But he's leaving China as a three-time winner after a nearly flawless weekend.

The Australian driver picked up 32 of a possible 33 points and seemed to become quicker and more confident as the sessions went on. He moved up one spot in the sprint race to finish second behind Lewis Hamilton. Then, while the rest of the paddock was left pondering whether Hamilton could repeat his heroics in Sunday's race, Piastri drove the fastest qualifying lap ever in Shanghai to grab the first pole of his F1 career.

It was Piastri's crescendo. Multiple positions behind him changed, but the 23-year enjoyed a clean getaway and at no point did he appear to be in serious jeopardy. He led 53 of 56 laps, and a pit stop was the lone reason he didn't lead every lap.

In a weekend where his teammate, Lando Norris, noticeably struggled with taming and adjusting to McLaren's MCL39 car, particularly in the sprint, Piastri found his groove and never looked back.

Piastri described the Chinese GP as what he feels like he "deserved from last week," and had it not been for his off-track excursion in Australia, he would be leading the drivers' championship right now.

Ferrari makes history for wrong reasons

For better or worse, there's nothing quite like the Ferrari experience. Charles Leclerc is no stranger to the phenomenon, but Hamilton was given a 72-hour crash course this weekend.

And it was done in the most typical Ferrari fashion possible.

A sprint pole and brilliant victory for the seven-time champion Saturday imploded into a Sunday disqualification after his rear skid block was under the minimum thickness required. His teammate wasn't spared, either, as Leclerc's underweight car resulted in the duo becoming Ferrari's first-ever set of drivers to both be disqualified in the same race. It doesn't help that even before the drivers were thrown out, the SF-25 looked nothing like the car driven in the sprint. Both pilots struggled with tire management Sunday.

Ferrari admitted Hamilton's disqualification was due to a misjudgement, while Leclerc's issue stemmed from him opting for a one-stop strategy, causing high tire wear. But whatever the reasons, Ferrari has no excuse. The majority of teams were ready for the possibility of a one-stop race, and for Hamilton, the misjudgement on the ride height to protect the skid marks Ferrari's second straight execution failure following a botched strategy call in Australia.

This was supposed to be the top driver lineups in F1 and one of the sport's best-ever partnerships. It's time for Ferrari to get its act together.

Red Bull's 2nd-driver dilemma

Red Bull ended the 2024 season with a second-driver dilemma and a car that lacked consistent pace, balance, and a wide operating window. Two races into 2025 and seemingly nothing has changed, as the team is dealing with another crisis for its No. 2 race seat.

No one within Red Bull will shy away from praising Max Verstappen's extraordinary ability to extract the maximum out of a difficult car. But it's also time to call the situation what is actually is - an unsustainable and fundamental problem with the machinery.

Even the adaptable Verstappen has been vocal about how difficult it is to drive the RB21. He came to Liam Lawson's defense Saturday, stating that he believes his new teammate would be faster in a Racing Bulls car because it's easier to handle.

That was evident all weekend as Lawson qualified 20th in the sprint and main race. He still couldn't net points, even with the triple disqualification of Leclerc, Hamilton, and Pierre Gasly in front of him Sunday. Verstappen walked away with all of Red Bull's points for the second straight race in 2025.

It doesn't help matters that Lawson has never driven at the Melbourne or Shanghai circuit. He was never likely to generate any confidence from the get-go.

Lawson's struggles have already created serious chatter that he could be swapped in the not-too-distant future. But what good would a swap do? Some may argue Yuki Tsunoda deserved the seat over Lawson to begin with, and there's reason to believe that. But a switch would simply be treating a symptom rather than solving a deeply rooted issue that dates back to 2019. No one - not even the most experienced drivers - can drive the Red Bull like Verstappen.

The Red Bull second seat is less of a curse as it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Lawson, now in a pressure-cooker situation, has to hope he has more time to close the gap to Verstappen despite increased scrutiny. But, as many other drivers have learned, trying to catch the four-time reigning champion is an almost impossible task.

Haas' opportunistic race

One of Haas' pilots is the lead Ferrari engine in the drivers' championship for the first time in the team's mostly dubious history.

Esteban Ocon is leaving the Chinese GP in seventh place with 10 points and is ahead of both Hamilton (nine) and Leclerc (eight).

Ocon had Haas' best finish since Bahrain 2022 after Ferrari's double disqualification promoted him to fifth, while rookie Ollie Bearman also made an offset hard-to-medium tire strategy work and recovered from 17th to finish eighth.

After going pointless in the season opener and admitting it needed to make setup changes due to the FIA's rear wing clampdown, Haas got the boost it so desperately needed.

Driver of the Day 🙌

George Russell: No one will argue against Piastri as the pick here, but since he received glowing praise earlier, let's give another driver his flowers. Russell was beyond clinical over the course of the entire weekend, quietly maximizing the Mercedes W16 package. He qualified onto the front row - splitting the McLarens - and then held off a feisty Leclerc before bringing home his second straight podium to open the year.

They said what? 🗣️

Piastri on the race win: "It's been an incredible weekend. The car has been pretty mega. Today was a surprise, how differently the tires behaved. This feels like what I deserved from last week."

Norris on his brake issues: "It's scary. It is like my worst nightmare, brakes failing. I was losing two, three, four seconds the last couple of laps so I was a bit scared. We survived and made it to the end. I would have liked to give it a bit of a try and put Oscar under a bit of pressure, but not today. We're satisfied, great result, and we'll go again next time."

Lawson on his slump: "I just need to drive this car faster. It's nothing to do with external pressure. The team have been extremely supportive. It is a unique track here, but we will reflect and learn from it going forward.”

Leclerc on first-lap incident with Hamilton: "It's a racing incident, it is not the first or last time it will happen. But it's a shame that it happened between the two red cars, but obviously there was no bad intentions from either of us. That was unfortunate and obviously it cost me quite a bit for the rest of the race."

Russell on his performance "The car has been great. It was probably one of my best weekends in Formula 1 in terms of the overall performance, so I'm really pleased with that and just maximizing every single time out on track. I'm pleased to be on the podium."

What's next?

After back-to-back race weekends, F1 takes a brief break before resuming at the Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese GP on April 6 at 1 a.m. ET.

Verstappen won the last three races in Japan, while Mercedes won the six races (2014-19) at the circuit before that.