Oscar Piastri hails ‘mega’ McLaren after dominant China one-two

SHANGHAI – Oscar Piastri hailed his “mega” McLaren after leading from pole to win the Chinese Grand Prix on March 23 ahead of teammate Lando Norris, while Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified after their cars failed post-race checks.

The cool-headed Australian bounced back perfectly from his disappointing spin in the closing laps of last week’s season-opener in Melbourne, as he took his third career grand prix win.

From the moment he fended off George Russell’s Mercedes at the first bend, Piastri was in total control for all 56 laps around the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit.

Norris darted past from third on the grid at the same turn and the two McLarens then sped away, leaving Russell alone for most of the race to take his second third-place finish of the season.

It made it two victories out of two grands prix for McLaren, after championship leader Norris won in Melbourne. It was the team’s 50th one-two finish in their long history.

Only Ferrari’s Hamilton, who beat Piastri to pole and chequered flag in the sprint race on March 22, denied McLaren a clean sweep.

“It’s been an incredible weekend, the car has been pretty mega,” said Piastri, 23, after McLaren made a one-stop strategy work to perfection. “Very, very happy.

“The hard was a much better tyre than everyone expected, so to go all the way to the end was a bit of a surprise, but a happy surprise.”

Norris had to cope with a late brake issue which forced him to settle for second – 9.748 seconds behind – rather than launch a challenge on his teammate.

“I was lucky. Lucky to finish the race today and that’s not something you want to be saying. Brakes are something you hate but something you really do need and it can save your life,” said a relieved Norris, for whom the finish line came just in time.

“It’s like my worst nightmare... Sketchy last couple of laps because the brakes were getting worse and worse every lap. And the last couple of laps I’m three or four seconds off. So quite nervous.”

The Briton leads the championship on 44 points from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on 36. Russell is on 35 with Piastri on 34. McLaren are 21 points clear of Mercedes.

McLaren boss Andrea Stella said the problem emerged some 15 to 20 laps from the end.

“Lando did a very good job together with the team to manage through the problem, adapting the driving style that it didn’t become a terminal problem. So not without some tension, we bring home a P1-P2,” he said.

Russell was delighted with third place, similar to Melbourne.

“The car has been great this weekend and probably one of my best weekends in Formula One in terms of performance, so really pleased with that,” said the Briton.

Both Ferraris passed Verstappen, who started fourth, on the first bend. But the four-time world champion showed all his race craft and experience to nurse his tyres to perfection, biding his time.

He was closing on Hamilton when the seven-time world champion pitted for a second time and then had saved enough performance to run down Leclerc, sweeping back past the Ferrari with two laps to go.

“I suddenly picked up tyre grip... where others maybe plateaued a bit more. The first half of the race was quite tough, but we set out to do our own pace,” said the Dutchman, who is chasing a fifth consecutive world championship.

Hamilton came home sixth behind his teammate after being the only one of the top-six drivers to make a second stop. However, Leclerc’s car was found to be under the weight limit, while Hamilton’s car was reported to stewards for excessive skid wear.

Leclerc had lost his car’s front wing end plate in a first-lap collision with Hamilton, but that was replaced before the final weighing. Stewards reported that it weighed 799kg after the fuel was drained, with the minimum weight set at 800kg.

The thickness of the plank on Hamilton’s car was below the minimum nine millimetres.

“During the hearing, the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team,” stewards said in a statement.

The disqualifications benefited Haas, who finished 13th and 14th in Melbourne, particularly, with Frenchman Esteban Ocon moving up to fifth and British rookie Oliver Bearman eighth.

Mercedes Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli moved up to sixth, with Thailand’s Alex Albon seventh in his Williams on his 29th birthday.

Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who finished 11th, was also disqualified for his Alpine being below the minimum weight.

Gasly’s penalty meant Canadian Lance Stroll finished ninth for Aston Martin and Spain’s Carlos Sainz took the final point for Williams despite finishing 13th on track.

The third round of the season is the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka from April 4 to 6. AFP, REUTERS