Oscar Piastri wins Chinese Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton struggles in Ferrari

By Philip Duncan, PA F1 Correspondent, Shanghai

Oscar Piastri beat Lando Norris to win the Chinese Grand Prix as a struggling Lewis Hamilton moved aside for Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Piastri led virtually every lap at the Shanghai International Circuit, with Norris following his team-mate home as McLaren underlined their impressive speed by executing a one-two finish.

Mercedes’ George Russell finished third ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who passed Leclerc with three laps remaining. Hamilton crossed the line a distant sixth.

Piastri was on course to finish runner-up at the season-opening round in his home country of Australia a week ago before he slid off, finishing ninth as team-mate Norris took the win.

But here in China, Piastri landed his first pole position and kept his rivals at bay into the opening bend.

Norris made up one place from third at the start when he sailed round the outside of Russell at the first corner, with Verstappen falling back two places as Hamilton launched his Ferrari underneath the Red Bull driver.

Leclerc followed him through but was slightly out of control and his front wing made contact with Hamilton’s right rear tyre. Both were able to continue, albeit with damage to Leclerc’s front wing which was left skimming the tarmac.

With Piastri’s lead over Norris reaching two seconds by the end of lap 10, Hamilton had Leclerc all over his gearbox.

“Aren’t we losing a bit of time?” Leclerc asked on lap 13 in an apparent attempt to press the Ferrari team to swap positions.

Norris lost a place to Russell at the opening pit stops but needed just over two laps to regain second place when he fired his McLaren ahead of his fellow Briton into the first corner.

A change of tyres had not improved Hamilton’s fortunes, and he told Ferrari he would let Leclerc by because he was “struggling” for pace.

Hamilton’s race engineer, Riccardo Adami, came on the radio. “We are swapping cars on Turn 14,” Hamilton was told. After several testy exchanges, the seven-time world champion said: “I will tell you when we can swap.”

The move came at the start of lap 21, Leclerc quickly pulling out a two-second lead over Hamilton. “This is a shame (because) the pace is there,” said Leclerc in apparent annoyance that the order to trade places had not arrived earlier.

Hamilton opened his winning account for Ferrari in Saturday’s sprint but was growing frustrated in the main event, changing tyres again on lap 38 as the majority of the field completed a one-stop strategy.

Up front Piastri remained in complete control, with Norris’ second place suddenly under threat due to a brake problem. However, the British driver managed to nurse his McLaren home, albeit 9.7 seconds behind Piastri.

Russell took the chequered flag just 1.3 sec further back, with Verstappen fourth after he fought his way ahead of Leclerc on lap 53 of 56.

“It has been an incredible weekend from start to finish,” said Piastri, who extends his advantage in the championship over Verstappen from two points to eight.

“The car is mega. I am just proud of the team and the weekend that I have been able to pull off. I feel like I deserved this from last week.”

Norris said: “Turn one went to plan and then George got me at the pit stops. I was nervous but our pace was better in the second stint. I tried to get close to Oscar but I couldn’t. He deserves the win. I am happy with second.”

Reflecting on his late brake problem, Norris continued: “It was scary. It is like my worst nightmare. I was losing time in the last laps, two, three, four seconds, but we survived and made it to the end.”