Oscar Piastri beat teammate Lando Norris to victory at the Chinese Grand Prix as McLaren continued to look a cut above the competition at the second round of the new Formula 1 season.
SHANGHAI — Oscar Piastri beat teammate Lando Norris to victory at the Chinese Grand Prix as McLaren continued to look a cut above the competition at the second round of the new Formula 1 season.
In a grand prix that revolved around tyre management, Piastri held the lead from pole position at the start of the race and then cruised to victory over a one-stop strategy.
The win followed a disappointing season-opener for Piastri after he spun out of second place at his home race in Australia one week ago.
« The car was very lovely and good work on reacting to the [tyre] deg », Piastri told his team over the radio after the chequered flag. « Good team effort, that is one very satisfying weekend. »
In a post-race interview he said it was a surprise: « It’s been an incredible weekend, the car has been pretty mega. Today was a surprise, how differently the tyres behaved. This feels like what I deserved from last week. »
Norris finished 9.7 seconds behind his McLaren teammate after struggling with a brake pedal issue in the final laps of the race.
The British driver, who still leads the championship by virtue of his race win at the season-opener, never got close to challenging Piastri for victory and instead had to repass George Russell for second place after losing a place to the Mercedes in the pit stops.
