STORYLINES EXCITING US AHEAD OF THE WEEKEND
China
IT'S
RACE
WEEK!
MCLAREN / PIASTRI
Can Piastri bounce back?
It was a tough end to an extremely promising weekend for Oscar Piastri in Melbourne, as the home hero saw his hopes of victory slide off the track behind team mate Lando Norris late in the race.
What the Australian Grand Prix did display, was the pace McLaren have in both dry and wet conditions, with much of the race being a straight fight between the two team mates.
Norris managing to hold off Max Verstappen for victory gives him an early advantage in the standings, and Piastri will want to bank some solid points of his own in China.
FERRARI
Ferrari trying to unlock more performance
Ferrari were predicted to be a podium contender from the start of this season based on what had been seen in testing. But in the end, a lack of performance in Qualifying left the two Ferraris sharing the fourth row.
Add in the mixed conditions and the ability for strategic calls to have a significant impact, and Ferrari ended up limited to eighth and tenth with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton respectively.
Both drivers suggested there was more to come from the car, while Hamilton is also learning about a new environment following his switch from Mercedes, and China provides the first opportunity to try and put the lessons learned over the opening race weekend into practice.
ROOKIES
Rookies getting a quick second chance
Speaking of making use of the experience from the first race of the season, there are a number of rookies who will be looking forward to getting back behind the wheel and having the chance to put the memory of Melbourne behind them.
The conditions seen on Sunday were exactly the kind that are likely to catch out inexperienced drivers, and so it proved with just two rookies (Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman) finishing the Grand Prix, and even then each had various issues over the weekend.
All of the rookies have shown their talents at different stages already, be that substitute appearances, strong qualifying laps or eye-catching pace in practice, and now they will look to put it together when it matters during what will be a fast-paced second race weekend of the season.
F1 SPRINT
The first Sprint of 2025
China will be a fast-paced weekend because the teams only get one practice session (FP1) to get up to speed before they need to push their cars to the limit. That’s the beauty of the Sprint schedule, where FP1 leads straight into Sprint Qualifying on Friday, setting the grid for the shorter race earlier on Saturday. It provides more competitive sessions, and there is something to fight for on all three days.
It’s not just F1 racing this weekend though, as F1 ACADEMY’s third season kicks off in China too. There are returning title contenders such as Doriane Pin and Maya Weug, as well as the familiar names of Chloe Chambers, Lia Block, Aurelia Nobels and Tina Hausmann. But there’s also an influx of new and exciting drivers who will be on the grid full-time, in what will be F1 ACADEMY’s first race in Shanghai.
TRUE PACE
A clearer picture of dry-weather pace
The weather was certainly a talking point over the last few days in Melbourne, with high temperatures in Qualifying then giving way to such challenging conditions with wind and rain throughout race day.
The forecast for this weekend in Shanghai, however, looks far more settled. A cold start to the week is set to give way to a warm and sunny race weekend, with little threat of rain on any of the three days of track running.
Given the Sprint schedule, teams will be relieved to have a settled forecast at the moment, and it could well provide more answers as to where they all actually stand compared to each other.
