Max Verstappen dug deep in Shanghai on Sunday to finish fourth at the Chinese Grand Prix behind the McLaren 1-2 of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and secure 12 crucial 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship points in the defence of his drivers’ title.
Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Liam Lawson finished in 15th, however rose up to 12th following post-race disqualifications to three drivers and he will be looking for a better overall performance when the F1 paddock moves on to the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in early April.
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls duo Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda struggled to improve on their impressive Saturday Sprint Race and qualifying displays, and finished in 11th and 16th respectively.
QUOTES
Oracle Red Bull Racing
MAX VERSTAPPEN – 4th
“Today the beginning of the race was quite tough on mediums. We set out to do our pace, which was a fair bit slower than the cars around us as we were working to try not to destroy our tyres. On the hard tyre, it was a tough beginning, but on the second stint the performance was a lot more promising and we were seeing a lot more pace in the car. The last 19 laps were more positive and better than expected as we were having equal lap times to the front runners. We were handling the car better and had a lot more grip on the tyres, so everything looked more hopeful and it was more fun to drive. We can take a lot of lessons from this weekend and hopefully this means that we can see a better performance in Japan, especially on a circuit that I really enjoy driving at. We do still have a lot of work to do, as we are not where we want to be and our car is not that easy to drive, but at least the final stint was more promising and there is a lot that we can go back and analyse. Overall, it was nice racing in Shanghai: it is a great track and great city.”
LIAM LAWSON – 12th
“It was pretty tough out there, starting from the pitlane we tried something different, and it was a gamble to try and figure out the set-up of the car. We tried to do something aggressive, and it didn’t really work, it was quite a big step but we struggled with pace, and the car felt more tricky than Melbourne. Our pace in the Sprint yesterday was better. It is not something you can put into words, it is a very small window with this car and if you miss it, it is very penalising. The more we drive, the more we try stuff and learn from it, unfortunately it didn’t go in the right direction today. 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.”
CHRISTIAN HORNER – Team Principal and CEO
“That was a race of two halves from Max today, following up after a strong sprint weekend here in Shanghai. We didn’t have the straight line speed today as you could see, the Ferrari was properly quick on the straight. Max delivered when he needed to and made a great pass on Charles to finish fourth. It was a tough day at the office for Liam, he was struggling at points and had some issues with balance. We have plenty to look at after today, we gave away too much in the first stint and we need to understand the limitations that were there. We were competitive in the second half of the race but we had given up too much ground at that point. Lots of lessons to takeaway and we know where we need to improve, but we still managed to come away with 12 points and have kept it close with the top competitors these first two fly aways, and we’ll look to do more with Japan up next.”
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls
ISACK HADJAR – 11th
“It’s a shame. I’m disappointed, as points were definitely expected today. I had a nice start to the race that put us in a good position, but I think my first lap could have been better, to avoid a bit of the chaos. The car worked well all weekend and we had a really strong pace throughout the race. I was also able to stay behind the other cars and follow them closely on the same tyres, so I’m happy with my drive. What happened today was out of my control, but I can’t help thinking what it would have been like with a one-stop strategy race. We’ll review everything with the team before going back racing in Japan.”
YUKI TSUNODA – 16th
“Very disappointed, I was definitely expecting more. How I ended up in this race is definitely not the way I wanted. We didn’t have as much pace as the Sprint race, we’ll have to analyse that. Strategy is something we have to revise what happened there as well. I can understand the thoughts behind it, but I guess the main learning is how we can prevent those situations for the future. The front wing damage was a bit frustrating, maybe it was debris, we will investigate, but some things are a bit unfortunate. At least I scored points in Sprint race, which is important, we have good pace in the car so, let’s stay positive. Next race is Suzuka and my motivation is naturally coming from inside already.”
LAURENT MEKIES – Team Principal
“A frustrating Sunday here in Shanghai. It’s the second race in the row where we don’t come out with the points that we felt we could have had based on how fast the car and the drivers were this weekend; so for sure a lot of hard work ahead of us to improve in these areas to ensure we are stronger in the future. Nonetheless, there is still a huge amount of positives to take from this weekend, the pace was outstanding, the guys have been aiming high all weekend with both cars in Q3 and a fantastic Sprint race with Yuki scoring our first points of the season with P6. We have a fast car, with fast drivers, having fought with the big guys for most of the weekend. We will of course be investigating exactly why Yuki’s front wing broke in the closing stages but after this double-header, we can now regroup back in Faenza and Milton Keynes, assess our race execution and return stronger for the next round in Japan, a home race for Yuki and our PU supplier Honda.”
