Formula 1 returned with a bang last week as Lando Norris claimed victory in the Australian Grand Prix in the most challenging of conditions.
The weather should be more agreeable for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, but with the sprint weekend format limiting practice time to one hour, we could still see some surprises.
Norris’s McLaren team seem to have a clear performance advantage at this early stage of the season, however, and the Bristolian racer will be keen to press up his points lead in Shanghai.
Chinese Grand Prix Tips
- Oscar Piastri to win Chinese Grand Prix @ 7/2
- Charles Leclerc podium finish @ 7/4
- Jack Doohan points finish @ 5/1
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Piastri out to put a dent in Norris’ lead
Australian drivers have historically had a tough time in their home Grand Prix and last week was no exception.
Norris’ Aussie team-mate Oscar Piastri just missed out on pole position, but was challenging hard for the lead when both McLarens went off the track during a sudden late rain shower.
While Norris rejoined still in the lead, Piastri had dropped out of the points by the time he regained the track and was left to battle his way back up to ninth place by the chequered flag.
There’s a chance the championship battle could boil down to a shootout between the McLaren drivers and Piastri cannot afford to let Norris establish himself as the team leader.
This being a sprint weekend, there are extra points up for grabs and that should be an incentive for Piastri to approach the weekend in a positive frame of mind, despite already trailing Norris by 23 points.
Piastri won twice last year and showed enough in Melbourne to suggest he can be a factor in the title race.
Expect better from Leclerc
Like Piastri, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will have left Melbourne feeling he should have secured a much better result.
A messy qualifying saw the Monegasque driver start seventh and, while he jumped up to fifth at the start, a spin later on followed by a tactical gamble gone wrong from the team saw him trail home in eighth.
Having missed out on the constructors’ championship by 14 points last year, Ferrari will be targeting the titles this season, however, despite a promising winter testing, they have work to do judged on Australia’s form.
In more normal conditions, though, it isn’t hard to believe that the Scuderia can outperform Mercedes and Red Bull and Leclerc’s chances of making the podium in Shanghai may have been underestimated by the market.
Doohan an interesting outsider
Piastri wasn’t the only Aussie to have a miserable time in front of their home crowd.
Jack Doohan’s race lasted less than a lap, but he shouldn’t be judged too harshly.
Melbourne was a baptism of fire, or at least of water, for F1’s six rookie drivers, five of whom failed to finish the rain-hit race.
Doohan had fared well in the preliminaries and may have joined his much more experienced Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly in the qualifying top-ten shootout with better luck.
Having outpaced Gasly in the first part of qualifying, Doohan was forced to abandon his fast lap in Q2 when another driver went off.
Gasly had looked set for a points finish before the late rain shower shuffled the midfield order and the improved Alpines will be confident of attacking for the top ten in China.
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