McLaren brought 10 updates to Miami for Lando Norris, while his teammate, Oscar Piastri had half of them. Before falling down to P17 after a collision with Carlos Sainz that led to wing damage, Piastri was catching up to Max Verstappen for first.
First, Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told the Dutchman to hurry up ahead of the imminent threat of Piastri. Then, later in the race, Norris increased his race lead to 7.612 seconds ahead of the reigning world champion. Undoubtedly, McLaren are emerging as Red Bull’s closest competitor so far this season.
Miami’s race weekend showed that Red Bull’s dominance may decline, with McLaren and Ferrari becoming strong contenders. This could provide some thrilling races later in the season.
Furthermore, Miami showcased Williams’ struggles. Logan Sargeant suffered a crash with Kevin Magnussen, ending his race on lap 28. Adding insult to injury for Williams, Alex Albon claimed Miami was one of the most challenging races he has experienced with the team. After an unlucky lock up at Turn 11, Albon spun and quickly fell down the order. On re-entering the track, he found himself at the back of the pack.
This was the first Sprint weekend held in Miami. Off the line, Lewis Hamilton caused an incident between the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso and the McLaren driver, Lando Norris. The incident was race ending for Norris.
Before the Sprint even started, Esteban Ocon was given a 10-second penalty because he clipped the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc while leaving the garage. Kevin Magnussen was handed a string of penalties totalling 35-seconds. While Hamilton received a 10-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
The home hero, Logan Sargeant, finished in P11. However, after penalties he was promoted to P10, his highest finish of the season so far.
RB driver, Daniel Ricciardo achieved P4 in the Sprint and put up an amazing defence against the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz behind.
Max Verstappen won the Sprint Race, with Charles Leclerc in P2 and Sergio Perez in P3.
Aston Martin fans were on edge during Qualifying, with Stroll qualifying P11 and Alonso qualifying P15.
After amazing results from the Sprint, Ricciardo fans were brought back to reality when he qualifying in P18. However, the Australian driver had a three-place grid penalty from the previous race in China and therefore started last on the grid.
McLaren locked out the third row of the grid with both Mercedes drivers behind them. After receiving points in the Sprint, Nico Hülkenberg continued his good form and qualified well in P9 for Haas. Despite a good Sprint result, Sargeant was knocked out in Q1 and qualified in P18.
Verstappen qualified in P1 putting his Red Bull in pole position for the race on Sunday.
As the lights went out, Verstappen kept the lead with the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc behind.
However, Perez locked up into turn one nearly taking out Sainz and his teammate, Verstappen. Benefitting from this mistake, Oscar Piastri was able to advance into P3. The Alpine drivers of Ocon and Pierre Gasly were battling each other, nearly causing a collision.
After a couple laps, Piastri was able to overtake Leclerc at turn 17.
Alex Albon was the first driver into the pits on lap 11. Hülkenberg and Gasly followed suit, all pitting for the hard compound tyres. Norris was closing in on Perez for P5.
On lap 18, Perez came into the pits and was able to re-join ahead of Alonso in P10. Lap 20 saw Leclerc pit, matching Red Bull’s 1.9 second pit stop. He re-joined the track in P6. Norris, who was in P4, was instructed to catch up to Sainz’s Ferrari in front of him.
Verstappen collided with a bollard which caused a virtual safety car. Magnussen, Ocon, and Alonso decided to take advantage of the VSC and pitted. Marshals were sent out onto the track to collect the debris.
With the VSC ending, Verstappen – who was still leading – entered the pits and re-joined the race in fourth. Piastri became the new race leader with Sainz and Norris behind him.
Due to the missing bollard, Hamilton took to the radio saying that the chicane was now “impossible to see”.
Norris managed to close the gap to Sainz when both Sainz and Piastri entered the pits with a 2.6 second stop for McLaren and 3.1 second stop for Ferrari. Norris then took the lead of the race.
After an incident between the home hero, Sargeant and Magnussen the yellow flag was waved, followed by the safety car.
Both RBs (Yuki Tsunoda and Ricciardo), Zhou Guyanu, Perez, Stroll, and Hulkenberg all took to the pits.
On lap 30, Norris entered the pits and re-joined ahead of the other drivers due to the safety car coming out in front of Verstappen in P2.
Magnussen was given a 10-second penalty for the incident with Sargeant.
Two laps later the safety car ended and Norris kept the lead in the restart, with Verstappen close behind him. Leclerc and Piastri were close behind the three-time world champion.
Then there was drama between Norris past and present teammates. Sainz and Piastri battled for position, with the Spaniard reporting that Piastri pushed him off the track. The incident was later dismissed by the stewards.
Norris kept his lead, with the gap constantly increasing between him and Verstappen.
A 10-second penalty was given to Magnussen for failing to serve his first penalty properly.
Due to a collision with Sainz, Piastri had to pit for a new front wing, with a pit stop of over 10 seconds, he re-joined at the back of the pack.
Nearing the end of the race, Norris’ first win was in sight. His teammate was able to set the fastest lap and also gained two positions.
As the chequered flag flew, Norris became the 21st British driver to win a grand prix. He had achieved his maiden F1 win with a 7.7 second lead ahead of Verstappen in P2. Leclerc finished in P3 to complete the Miami Grand Prix podium.
Miami is a 57 lap race around the Miami International Autodrome, set in the Hard Rock Stadium. Home to the Miami Dolphins as well as two Super Bowls, Miami brings a vibrant, party atmosphere.
The 19 turn track spans a distance of 5.412km. The lap record is currently held by (you guessed it!) Max Verstappen from the 2023 race, with a time of 1:29.708.
Ferrari will be releasing a brand new, limited edition Miami livery. They recently announced HP as their title sponsor and the livery is expected to be light blue to match the HP logo. Sporting the light blue colour would also match the Miami Dolphins. Various artists have released concept art for what they believe the livery may look like, the below picture is just one example of what we could be seeing in Miami from the Prancing Horses.
Nico Hulkenberg was born in 1987 in Rhein, Germany. He is the most recent driver to announce that he is moving teams for next year. So, let’s take a look into the Hulk’s career.
Past
Hulkenberg first entered Formula One in Bahrain in 2010 with Williams. In his rookie year, he took pole position at a rainy Interlagos.
In 2011, he was pushed into being a test and reserve driver for Force India. But the following year he was given a full-time seat for the team.
His next move saw him at Sauber with his highest championship finish in a season so far, finishing in P10 with 51 points. He equalled his best finish with a P4 in Korea.
At the start of the V6 hybrid turbo era, he returned to Force India. He scored points in 15 out of 19 of the races that season.
Before his retirement in 2019, he raced with Renault for three years. His highest championship position was P7 with 69 points in 2018.
He returned to F1 full-time with Haas in 2023, replacing fellow German driver Mick Schumacher. The 2023 season was a dark time for Haas, finishing last with 12 points. P7 was both Haas and Hulkenberg’s best position.
Present
Five races into this year’s season, Haas are currently seventh in the Constructors’ Championship. Hulkenberg was able to pull off a masterclass with help of teammate, Kevin Magnussen in Saudi Arabia. With a 20-second penalty, Magnussen held back the midfield to allow Hulkenberg to pit without losing any positions. They finished P10 and P12, scoring the first points of the season.
Future
This season started with 14 drivers not having definite seats for next year. Nico Hulkenberg is the most recent driver to announce his multi-year contract from 2025. He will be leaving Haas and returning to Sauber, ready for their transition to Audi in 2026.
Home favourite Zhou Guanyu and teammate Valtteri Bottas had high hopes coming into the weekend for round five of the 2024 Formula One Championship. Let’s review how the team performed in each session of the weekend.
Friday 19th April
FP1 The team started the weekend very positively, with Bottas and Zhou ending the only practice session in Shanghai in tenth and eleventh respectively. Any result in FP1 was overshadowed by the grass beside the track spontaneously catching fire, causing the session to be temporarily red flagged. The marshals quickly extinguished the blaze, ending the red flag after only five minutes.
Sprint Qualifying The new sprint weekend format saw Sprint Qualifying moved to Friday afternoon in Shanghai. Zhou only just scraped through SQ1 in 15th place, while Bottas was in 11th.
Between SQ1 and SQ2 another fire started on the grass next to the track. This delayed the start of SQ2 while the marshals dealt with it. Both cars made it through to SQ3, with Bottas in P7 and Zhou in P10.
SQ3 became a wet session. But it was a continuation of the impressive performance in FP1, with Bottas qualifying in P9, followed by Zhou in P10 in wet conditions. This result pleased the crowd very much as they saw their Shanghai born home favourite drive his way into the top ten.
The team had a promising performance on Saturday this race weekend.
Sprint Race After sustaining damage on the first lap of the Sprint Race, Bottas fought for 12th place. Zhou finished the Sprint Race in 9th place, 31 seconds behind the winner Max Verstappen, only just missing out on points.
Qualifying Zhou was knocked out at the end of Q1, qualifying in 16th place. Being knocked out at this stage of qualifying is not unusual for Sauber this season, but was disappointing due to hopes Zhou would get points at his home grand prix. Bottas, however, drove splendidly to make it through to Q3, eventually securing 10th place.
This was an excellent result considering the team’s form over the course of this season so far, and added an additional air of excitement in the team’s garage. It was the first time this season that Bottas had reached Q3, showing the improvement Stake made this weekend.
Grand Prix The Shanghai International Circuit provides ample opportunity for overtaking, which meant it was still possible for both drivers to finish Sunday with a great result for the team. Following Bottas’ stellar qualifying and Zhou’s boost from his home crowd, the team were determined to make a great day out of Sunday.
Unfortunately, neither driver finished in the points in this race. Bottas retired on lap 21 following an engine failure. He was the first car to not finish the race, stating on the radio: “engine is gone”. He pulled over to the side of the track with smoke coming out the back of his car which triggered the first safety car of the race.
Initially, Bottas’ incident only triggered the Virtual Safety Car. But after issues with removing his car from the track a full Safety Car was brought out to ensure the situation was being handled in the safest way possible for marshals and drivers.
Zhou, however, did complete the race, ending in P14. He fought with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen throughout the race, coming out on top in the end. Unfortunately, he pitted on lap nine before both safety cars, meaning that he missed out on the pit advantage under safety car for those who waited. On lap 39, Zhou overtook the Williams of Logan Sargeant to reach 14th place, earning much encouragement from his fans in the crowd.
Post-race reaction At the end of the race, like the podium finishers, he was given a marker to park behind so that he could address the crowd of fans excitedly waiting to show him their appreciation.
Zhou Guanyu’s first home race was a great watch. Brits watching at home got a slightly later start as the race began at 8am BST (3pm in Shanghai).
Kick Sauber driver, Zhou was emotional after receiving support from start to finish, ending the race in P14. The Chinese driver spoke to reporters post-race, he said:
“It’s such an emotional journey these twenty years. It reflects so quickly on your mind, I’m so grateful to be here.”
Emotions were high as Zhou is the first, and so far only, Chinese driver to line up on the starting grid in Shanghai.
Max Verstappen stormed to victory, 13.773 seconds ahead of his friend and racing opponent, Lando Norris. Norris finished in P2, securing 18 points. The McLaren driver was also voted Driver of the Day. Norris was strong all weekend, securing pole position in Saturday’s Sprint Race. However, the 24-year old went wide at Turn 1, missing his opportunity to claim a Sprint Race win and finishing in P6.
The fastest lap (1:37.810) of the Chinese Grand Prix went to Fernando Alonso. He finished in P7 after reaching speeds up to 200km/h.
However, the mood was low in the RB garage. Daniel Ricciardo was handed a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Miami due to overtaking Nico Hulkenberg under safety car conditions.
This was not the only bad news for Ricciardo. After a promising race weekend for the RB driver, his race came to an end thanks to a collision from behind by Lance Stroll at the safety car restart. Stroll was handed a ten-second penalty for hitting the back of Ricciardo’s RB. The Aussie suffered damage and retired from the race at the end of lap 34. Tensions were high and Ricciardo complained about the Aston Martin driver. He stated: “he’s making my blood boil”.
Image Credit: Getty Images
Ricciardo’s position at RB may be endangered after the summer break. There is pressure due to reserve driver, Liam Lawson waiting in the wings for an F1 seat.
For F1’s sixth round, we head to the first of three American races. Next up is the Miami Grand Prix at Miami’s International Autodrome on Sunday 5th May.
Let us know which incident in Shanghai surprised you the most!
Before the 2024 season began, F1 announced that the sprint weekends would be continuing for a fourth season. However, this year there would be tweaks in the scheduling on sprint race weekends.
2024 sprint format change
Last year, all sprint events were held on a Saturday. On Fridays, it was FP1 following by the grand prix race qualifying. On Saturdays, it was the sprint shootout qualifying followed by the sprint race. On Sundays, it was race day.
For 2024, the scheduling has been updated based on feedback from the teams and viewers. For this year, the sprint shootout qualifying will move from Saturday to Friday, following the FP1 session which remains on Friday. The sprint race will remain on Saturday but be moved to the first F1 session of the day. Then, the grand prix race qualifying will move from Friday to Saturday, to take place after the sprint race. On Sunday, unchanged, it will be the grand prix race.
Bernie Collins praises the new format
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Bernie Collins – F1 strategy analyst for Sky Sports and F1TV and former F1 strategy engineer for Aston Martin – said that there are “a lot of positives” to the change, that it is a “good balance” now, and that this format seems the “most reasonable”.
For viewers, she explained that having the race qualifying back on a Saturday, rather than a Friday afternoon/evening, will mean that the majority of the working population of fans will be able to tune in to watch. She also addressed that the sprint shootout qualifying change:
For teams, one of the difficulties of the previous sprint weekend formats is that they “didn’t want to have used all the qualifying tyres before qualifying.” For this year, in the sprint qualifying sessions the teams are required to use a medium tyre. This means that teams “should have enough” soft tyres left for race qualifying on Saturday.
Scheduling for the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix weekend
F1 Sprint weekends have had a re-shuffle for 2024 🔀
Being the home race of Stake Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, expect to see more of him in media channels. As the home favourite, he will be doing increased media appearances than he typically would for a grand prix weekend. This is the first time Formula One sees an active Chinese driver racing at the Chinese Grand Prix, so the buzz surrounding Zhou is great. As well as this, with it being Zhou’s first race on home soil, and in his hometown, it would not be surprising if he had something special in store for fans this week in celebration.
The track itself – Shanghai International Circuit – is just under five and a half kilometres long. This is the 16th time the circuit has hosted a race since it first began hosting a grand prix for the 2004 season. It contains 16 corners, including two hairpins. A new track surface will also be being used at this track. Due to this, previous data collected by teams at this track will not be relevant, especially data concerning tyre degradation and the tyre life cycle. This means sessions before the main race will be key for teams to work out how their car performs on this track. In addition, the teams will only have one practice session due to it being a sprint weekend.
As mentioned, the Chinese Grand Prix race weekend will include a sprint race, marking the first of the 2024 season. The sprint race will take place on the Saturday mere hours before the standard race qualifying session. This has appeared a rather controversial decision, with many fearing incidents in the sprint will negatively affect the later session that day. Some also fear that the threat of losing out in qualifying for the main race will force drivers to play it safe in the sprint race, risking a more dull race.
Despite a five year gap since F1’s last visit, there is hope that this year’s Chinese Grand Prix will provide the same entertaining racecraft it has in the past, especially with the addition of the sprint race this time around. The most memorable moment provided for fans at this track was probably the ‘torpedo’ incident between Sebastian Vettel and Daniil Kvyat in 2016. Vettel accused Kvyat – in the Red Bull – of causing his collision with Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen early into the race. None of these drivers are on the grid any longer, truly showcasing how long it has been since we were last racing in China.
For the last five years, there has been a hiatus for F1 in China, with COVID concerns meaning any planned races here could not go ahead. It will be interesting to see how these newer generation of cars fare at this track. Who do you expect to see on top this week?
Before the season started, we saw the news that Williams had re-signed Logan Sargeant. This meant that, for the first time ever in Formula One’s history, the grid remained the same from the previous year.
There were also changes to DRS. The new regulations allowed it to be activated after just one lap after the start of the race, or one lap after a safety car restart.
Next, we said goodbye to the Haas Team Principal, Guenther Steiner. He left the team to be replaced by Ayao Komatsu. He has left the fans with everlasting memories of his witty humour. However, he has since made his return to the paddock as a pundit for German broadcaster RTL. He is also the new Miami Grand Prix ambassador.
Then, a massive shockwave hit the world of F1 on February 1st 2024. The news broke of Sir Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for the 2025 season. This left Carlos Sainz, the only non-Red Bull grand prix winner from the 2023 season and this season so far, without a seat.
Rumours have been flying left, right, and centre about what will be happening with the grid for 2025. So far, we have the full line up for McLaren, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. We then had the recent announcement from Fernando Alonso that he was staying with Aston Martin. Max Verstappen and George Russell are the only other confirmed drivers with a seat for the 2025 season.
The biggest rumours have concerned the Mercedes seat. Gossip has circulated about F2 rookie, Andrea Kimi Antonelli taking the seat alongside Russell. Although, he may need to go into a Williams seat first.
Carlos Sainz is another option for the open seat with the Brackley-based outfit. The rumours speculate that Sainz has been offered a one year deal with the potential of a one year extension (1+1) with Mercedes. But Sainz is after a two year deal. Sainz will want a longer contract to assess the situation with Audi, who are taking over Sauber for 2026, before potentially joining them. However, Mercedes will not want to block the seat for too long, hoping to bring on Kimi Antonelli as soon as possible.
News stories were shared about the oldest driver on the grid, Alonso joining Mercedes. However, with his news of re-signing with Aston Martin, we await to see who will follow in Lewis Hamilton’s footsteps at Mercedes.
With 12 seats open next year, the likelihood of having new talent is high. We have seen the likes of British F2 driver, Ollie Bearman take the reins of Sainz’s car in Saudi Arabia. Sainz had to take time off for an appendectomy. With a finish of P6, it is highly likely that Bearman will be promoted to Formula One soon, if not next year. The F1 community speculates that Bearman could end up in a Haas seat in 2025. They have a link with Ferrari, where Bearman is currently a reserve driver.
Carlos Sainz is a Spanish driver, racing under the number 55. He currently drives for Ferrari in the Formula One Championship.
Sainz is not only an F1 driver, but a golf fanatic too. He plays golf with his former McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, and Williams F1 driver, Alex Albon.
Carlos Sainz Jr. is the son of famous Spanish rally driver, Carlos Sainz Sr, who most recently won the 2024 Dakar rally with Audi earlier this year. Therefore, Sainz Jr. has racing in his blood.
During the 2023 season, Sainz scored 200 points, resulting in him finishing in seventh place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Throughout Sainz’s journey in F1, he has achieved 21 podiums and a total of 1037.5 points! The half point was scored from the events of Spa-Francorchamps in 2021.
So far in the 2024 season, Sainz has performed incredibly well. Due to his uncertainty for the 2025 season, pressure is on the Spaniard to seek a seat next year. In the most recent race in Japan, Sainz improved from P4 in qualifying to a P3 result in the race, gaining his third podium of this season. Similarly, he achieved P3 in Sakhir. Australia was his best performance of the 2024 so far, he achieved a victory at the Melbourne track.
As mentioned, Sainz is yet to secure a seat for the 2025 season. There has been lots of speculation around his position for next year. Hamilton has voiced his support for the Mercedes seat to be taken by Sainz. Furthermore, Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, is aware of what an ‘asset’ Sainz is, so all is not lost completely for the Spaniard.
Carlos Sainz is a very appealing driver talent for any team, so the 29-year-old driver will hopefully be remaining in F1.
The Fastest Sector 