F1 Shanghai: Verstappen wins, Norris surprises. Ferrari disappointed

Too much traffic, rear-end collision on the ring road

As often happens on the various Tilke tracks, even the Shanghai one at 5,451 meters is not the easiest to overtake and its 16 curves in some cases have very short radii. At exactly the halfway point of the race, in the middle of a ‘train’ that was too close together in one of the slowest, Ricciardo had slowed down just enough to avoid crashing into Piastri, who was ahead of him and in turn was keeping a safe distance from Russell. However, Stroll, once more today not up to the task, arrives too fast at the braking point and crashes and wedges himself until he lifts Ricciardo’s rear end, causing numerous damages especially to his Aston Martin. Stroll, not happy, calls Ricciardo an idiot on the radio like any Sunday driver would do to his colleague who brakes too far in front of him, forgetting that they are both amateurs: but this is a Formula 1 race, except that everyone’s abilities the starters are evidently not homogeneous. The Canadian got the worst of it, initially, but later Ricciardo was also forced to retire. And it’s not nice, because while Stroll has his career guaranteed by his father, the Australian, who also has an Italian passport, is fighting to keep his seat even just during this year: there are rumors that he would already out of Miami or soon following. For the record, the drivers’ tension in this race also resulted in other insults live worldwide, between Gasly and Seargeant.

Prolonged pandemic, stop from 2019

The Chinese Grand Prix was the slowest to return to the Circus following the Covid-19 pandemic. Five long years following the last edition in 2019, which was a great celebration as Formula 1 celebrated the thousandth grand prix in its history under the aegis of the international motoring federation. Not held like many others in the spring of 2020, following the ambitious and onerous national ‘zero covid’ strategy, it continued its suspension until 2023, with a decision already taken in October 2022. The first edition of this grand prix was held in 2004. Record of six victories for Hamilton, two for Alonso and one for Ricciardo, among the drivers still active.

The no points: from the Chinese to the teams that are suffering

Between the budget cap and the prizes needed to survive, not scoring points in Formula 1 will be increasingly dramatic for the survival of the teams. Passes for Williams and Sauber, who for years have been accustomed to not being competitive, but this Sunday too the absence of Alpine from the top 10 under the checkered flag stands out. Since it is a complete manufacturer like Ferrari and Mercedes, performance aside, it becomes a source of serious embarrassment for the image of an important name like those of Renault, which has had prestige in motorsport in Formula 1 and in many other categories such as the most famous big Italians, Germans and English. Furthermore, among those absent from the top ten today, Zhou is missing: he finishes fourteenth but at least he reaches the finish line. And the public is happy with him. This is no small thing, because a Chinese driver capable of competing is good news for all of motorsport.

Friday’s fire weed

In the outskirts of Shanghai, there is no shortage of ‘curiosities’ that still worry the entire paddock. At a certain point, at the end of the first free practice on Friday, flames appeared on a lawn outside turn 5, generated in an apparently spontaneous manner, for which the federation cannot give an official explanation, which caused a delay in the restart of the second session. In the possible hypotheses, chemical agents emerge that ended up on the grass following a re-laying of liquid asphalt in 2023. Undoubtedly the passage of the single-seaters generates sparks but if it were not the fault of those chemical agents, it might also be a contributing cause of the methane which had already been detected seeping from the ground for some time.

2025 calendar, few new features, 24 more grand prix

After the last test in Japan, the fundamental news in the environment was the announcement of the 2025 calendar. “It will be the seventy-fifth season of the FIA ​​Formula 1 World Championship,” explains Stefano Domenicali, “a special year as we will celebrate that legacy and that experience that allow us to offer such a strong calendar. Once once more, we will visit 24 incredible locations around the world, offering world-class racing, hospitality and entertainment, which will be enjoyed by millions of fans around the world.”