After a chaotic season-opener in Melbourne, F1 is set for another unpredictable race in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri starts from pole on the front row alongside George Russell, with last year’s title protagonists Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in behind on a track that has been chewing up tyres all weekend.
Track position proved to be crucial in Saturday’s Sprint, which was won by Lewis Hamilton, so it could be a feisty opening lap with plenty of opportunities to overtake in the first half of the lap. Hamilton starts in fifth alongside Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and if the seven-time world champion’s Sprint pace is anything to go by, he will be in contention for victory on Sunday too.
To add to the presence of the big names at the front of the grid, the Shanghai International Circuit is notoriously one of the year’s most punishing on a car’s front tyres.
And with tyre degradation levels therefore expected to be high, Pirelli are forecasting drivers each having to make two pit stops – serving to create what they believe will prove an uncertain and exciting 56-lap Grand Prix. It makes for an interesting race, said Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok of the likely strategy permutations.
If you have a slam-dunk one-stop and you’re spending a lot of time managing it, it’s not a very exciting race. With a two-stop race and people running different tyres at different times, we might see drivers starting on the hard tyres and go long, it depends but it makes things interesting for the strategists and drivers. We want to see variance.
Polesitter Piastri said: I think just making sure your tyres survive is the biggest thing.
As for the biggest threat to McLaren, it seems that the team will have to watch out for their competitors who can effectively manage their tires and handle the degradation and graining issues. Teams like Red Bull and Mercedes, who have shown strong race pace in the past, could pose a challenge to McLaren’s dominance in Shanghai.