Verstappen survives safety cars to take Shanghai win

Max Verstappen has emerged triumphant at the first Chinese Grand Prix in five years, taking his 58th race win around the Shanghai International Circuit.

The Dutchman survived a duo of safety car interruptions to take the chequered flag, crossing the line just over nine seconds ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.

Norris bagged the Woking-based squad's best result of the campaign so far, with the second Red Bull car of Sergio Perez taking the final spot on the podium.

After starting the race at the back of the field, Lewis Hamiton recovered to ninth place, while RB endured a disastrous race as it saw both cars retire from the event.

Opening stint

Verstappen was unchallenged as the race got underway and held his lead through the opening sequence, however team-mate Perez was not as lucky.

The Mexican driver was overtaken by Fernando Alonso through the first corner before Perez retook the position on lap five.

Alonso, who was starting to struggle with his tyres, dropped behind Norris three laps later as the McLaren driver moved into a podium-scoring place.

George Russell enjoyed a strong start as he jumped the two Ferrari drivers to move from eighth to sixth on the opening lap but soon dropped back behind the leading red car of Leclerc who also chased down and moved ahead of Oscar Piastri.

On lap 14, Red Bull opted to pit both of its drivers from the top two positions, swapping to the Hard tyres from the Mediums.

A handful of laps later, Sainz opted to pit and dropped down the order, albeit on fresher tyres compared to his rivals.

Safety Car interruptions

Lap 21 saw a disruption to the race when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed after a retirement for Valtteri Bottas on the track.

It allowed Leclerc and Norris to make their first and only stops of the race, with the latter re-emerging in third place after benefitting from the lack of time lost through the pit lane.

However, a full Safety Car was then called with Red Bull opting to pit both cars once again, causing Perez to drop from second to fourth, behind Norris and Alonso.

The race resumed on lap 27 - both only momentarily. Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo made contact at the hairpin before Tsunoda was forced to retire after being hit by Kevin Magnussen, resulting in another Safety Car.

The second restart came on lap 32 with Verstappen successfully holding his lead once more.

The run-in

Perez moved back onto the podium with an overtake on Leclerc on lap 39 and set his sights on Norris ahead.

However, the Red Bull driver couldn’t make in-roads and had to settle for third, with Norris taking his best result of the year.

The Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz took the chequered flag in fourth and fifth, marking the first race this season that the Italian squad has failed to appear on the podium.

Russell crossed the line in sixth place ahead of Alonso who made a late pit stop on the Medium tyres to carve his way from 12th to seventh with the extra point for the fastest lap.

Piastri's McLaren car sustained damage at the first safety car hairpin pile-up, leaving him in eighth place ahead of Hamilton.

The seven-time world champion, who started the grand prix from the back of the field, recovered to ninth to take two points.

Nico Hulkenberg bagged another point-scoring result for Haas in 10th, his third score of the season.