F1 Chinese Grand Prix 2025 Recap: Oscar Piastri makes it two-in-two for McLaren

Oscar Piastri secured his third career win with his pole yesterday, giving McLaren their second win of the season in as many races after a mature and composed drive to win the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. The Australian led McLaren’s one-two charge, with teammate Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell rounding out the podium places. 

Thanks to the one-two, McLaren have extended their lead in the Constructors’ Standings, going 25 points clear of Mercedes in second. Max Verstappen’s P4 finish has helped Red Bull stay in third, while a double points finish has taken Haas to seventh place, jumping over the likes of Sauber, VCARB, and Alpine.

As the lights went out in Shanghai, Piastri led off the line, keeping Russell at bay, while Norris made the most of their early tussle to move into second place, putting in a bold move at Turn 1. Behind them, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen dropped a couple of places in the opening lap as Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc got past him, though in doing so they had a moment with each other as contact with Hamilton left Leclerc with a damaged front wing. 

The race saw its first retiree early on as double World Champion Fernando Alonso had to stop on Lap 5 because of brake failure.

As the race progressed, it was Piastri building up a lead on Norris up front, with the two Ferrari drivers in fourth and fifth and building a gap between themselves and Verstappen in sixth.

By Lap 14, most cars had come in for their stops, with Hamilton and Verstappen being the first ones to hit the pit lane, rejoining in P10 and P12, respectively.

After his stop, Piastri took two laps to retake the lead of the race from Alex Albon, while Norris—on a fresh set of tyres—swept past Russell to move into P3 before breezing past Albon in a lap’s time to again give McLaren a one-two at the top.

As the race entered its halfway stage, Red Bull’s inability to compete left McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes in the mix for the win, though the two McLaren cars seemingly had the race locked in for most part. There was little action up top as Piastri kept a cool head to maintain his lead, while his teammate tried to build a gap between the grid and the two of them. Hamilton came in for his second stop at Lap 38, switched to the hard compound, and rejoined in sixth.

The final stages of the race saw Verstappen’s Red Bull finally show some pace. While the Dutchman looked his best in fleeting moments, it was Norris who struggled as Russell and Leclerc gained on him.

Heading into the final laps, Norris reported a brake pedal issue, with Verstappen gaining on Leclerc. While Piastri ended up sailing to his third career win, Norris’ brake issue meant he barely hung on to second place with just over a second’s worth of gap to Russell, while Verstappen beat both Ferrari drivers to P4. 

Beaten by Verstappen right at the end, Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth, respectively, while Esteban Ocon, Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon, and Ollie Bearman rounded out the points places, in that order. It was maiden points for Bearman on his second-ever F1 start as Haas registered a strong double points finish to get their season off the mark.