Piastri leads home 'critical' Norris as McLaren make F1 history

Oscar Piastri thrust himself into the fight for this season's F1 drivers' title with a comfortable third grand prix victory of his career.

From his first pole position - other than a sprint - McLaren driver Piastri was rarely troubled at the Shanghai International Circuit, atoning for the misery he endured in his home race in Australia a week ago when he was on course for a near-certain second, only to slide off into the grass at Melbourne's Albert Park when heavy rain started to fall.

Piastri took the chequered flag 9.748s seconds clear of team-mate Lando Norris, giving McLaren its 50th one-two in its history and underlining its position as favourites for both championships this year.

The last few laps were anxious ones for Norris, however, as he was forced to cope with "critical" brake issues to take the line 1.3s ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, who is nine points behind his fellow Briton in the drivers' standings.

In finishing runner-up to add to his victory Down Under, Norris has moved eight points clear of Red Bull's four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen, who had to settle for fourth.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fifth, remarkably despite sustaining front-wing endplate damage to his SF-25 after contact with team-mate Lewis Hamilton through the Turn 1-2 loop. The FIA did not deem the damage worthy of forcing him in for a change.

The top-five drivers all managed a one-stop strategy, whilst Ferrari attempted a two-stop with Sprint winner Hamilton, but to no avail as the 40-year-old Briton was sixth.

Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman finished a fine seventh and 10th after the misery the team suffered in Australia, sandwiching Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli in eighth, and Williams' Alex Albon - on his 29th birthday - in ninth.

Alonso woe

For Piastri, the first Australian to start a grand prix from pole position since Daniel Ricciardo in 2018 in Mexico, it was a sluggish start but he did just enough to fend off Russell alongside him on the front row on the run down to the Turns 1 and 2 loop.

Instead, Norris, from third on the grid, took advantage, boldly sweeping around the outside of Russell to claim second and move in behind his team-mate.

Behind them, Verstappen endured a slide midway through the loop that forced him to pull off throttle, dropping from fourth to sixth as the Ferrari duo of Hamilton and Leclerc moved inside.

However, the Scuderia duo experienced a near-disaster when Leclerc rolled across an inside kerb. This caused him to make a small jump as he returned to the track, which caused the left front of his car to clip the right rear of Hamilton.

Although Hamilton radioed in that he had been "hit by someone", he escaped unscathed. Not so Leclerc, who sustained damage to the front-wing endplate, losing an estimated 20 to 30 points of downforce according to the team.

On lap three, Alpine's Pierre Gasly, following Fernando Alonso, radioed in there was a brake fire on the Spaniard's Aston Martin. It led to a retirement at the end of lap four, with the team claiming it had to stop the car as a precaution as it had been managing an issue with the rear-brake temperatures.

It is now back-to-back retirements for Alonso to start the season following his crash at Melbourne's Albert Park. It is the first time since 2017 that Alonso has endured such a miserable opening to a campaign.

After 10 laps, the first pit stops began to unfold, primarily for those further down the pack. Three laps later, from fourth and sixth, respectively, Hamilton and Verstappen took on the hard compound tyres.

They were followed a lap later by leader Piastri and third-on-the-road Russell. On the following lap, it was Norris and Leclerc.

Remarkably, Ferrari opted not to replace the front wing on Leclerc's car despite the loss of downforce. The Monégasque slotted in again behind team-mate Hamilton.

As for Norris, he lost out to an undercut from Russell as the latter managed to claim second through the opening loop. Russell's advantage was shortlived, however, as Norris reclaimed second place with a superb move into the Turn 6 hairpin on lap 18.

Albon led the race for a couple of laps until he was passed by Piastri. He eventually pitted after 20 laps.

On the following lap, with Hamilton previously stating over the radio he was struggling, the Briton - in conjunction with the pit wall - made a call to allow by Leclerc into fourth to take up the chase to Russell.

At the halfway stage - lap 28 of 56 - Piastri held a near four-second cushion to Norris, who was two-and-a-half seconds clear of Russell. The latter was within the DRS range of Leclerc, who had opened a three-second cushion to Hamilton.

An anonymous Verstappen was alone in sixth, 4.5s adrift of Hamilton and 10 seconds clear of a yet-to-pit Lance Stroll in his Aston Martin. Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon in his Haas, and Antonelli completed the top 10.

Leclerc's bid for third position proved a false dawn as within a few laps he dropped to two seconds behind Russell.

At two-thirds distance, the first of the two stoppers took on a second set of hard tyres, whilst Stroll finally got rid of his hards, switching to the mediums to take him through to the end.

After 37 laps, Hamilton took on a new set of hards, dropping just one place from fifth to sixth. At the time, Verstappen was closing in on the seven-time F1 champion. On fresh rubber, Hamilton soon set the fastest lap on 39, repeating the feat on 40. and 41.

Hamilton, though, was unable to maintain the pace to catch Verstappen. Instead, it was the Dutchman who hunted down Leclerc, catching his prey out of Turn 3 on lap 53.

In the meantime, Norris endured brake issues over the closing laps, to such an extent he was informed by race engineer Will Joseph not to brake hard, and to watch his brake pressure. On the penultimate lap, he was told it was "getting critical", but he managed to coak his car to the finish.