They fell into their arms at McLaren. At the pit wall. In the garage. The engineers, the mechanics, all those who had contributed to this next triumphal trip of the racers in orange. “Great work, people,” sparked Oscar Piatri, the Australian, shortly after he was racing as the winner on Sunday, almost ten seconds before Teammate Lando Norris and George Russell (Mercedes) in places second and three at the Grand Prix of China on the gates of Shanghais. “He was great all weekend,” said McLaren boss Zak Brown about Piatri, “he deserved the victory from curve one.” World champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was fourth without any victory chance, but left the Ferrari pilot Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in fifth and six, which, however, were disqualified a few hours later. Nico Hülkenberg from Emmerich was in a clean preliminary (18th place). “Well done to block me there” Piatri, 23 years old, who was for the first pole position of his career on Saturday, only had to worry about success once at the beginning. At the start he didn’t really get going, Russell behind him all the better. Piatri immediately headed hard on the right, Russell cut off the way. “You did well to block me there,” Russell said to Piatri at the finish line. The Mercedes man, slowed down in this way, lost driving and still had to let Norris pass. For Piatri, the dangerous moment on his tour for the third victory in his career was over. Norris ’Banger moment this Sunday was still pending. External content Activated behind the top trio came too close to the Ferrari pilots at the beginning of the famous snail curve. “Someone hit me,” reported Lewis Hamilton, the winner of the sprint race on Saturday. This someone was Charles Leclerc, his stable companion, who touched Hamilton’s right -wing rear tires in the bustle with his front wing, and a week ago in Australia had had to survive Hamilton and Leclerc, but could just prevent a collision at the time. Now Leclerc reported property damage, but despite the expected loss of download, refrained from a pit stop. In fact, the mishap seemed to not affect the Monegassen. “Neither of us did anything wrong,” said Leclerc about contact with Hamilton. “Lewis drove outside, I thought he would stay there. Then he drove inwards. This is his right, but I didn’t expect it.” Red Bull in crisis modusmax Verstappen had told the broadcaster Sky before the start that he believed that he had no chance in the race. “We are too slow,” said the Dutchman, who started sixth after a few hundred meters, in sixth place. Helmut Marko, motorsport consultant from Red Bull, said that Verstappen may have spared the tires too much at first. The start of the world champion was also “somewhat unhappy”. For Red Bull, it would not have been enough for the victory in Shanghai. The former industry leader believes in an emergency. External content activate Marko announced a crisis meeting for the coming week. It should be discussed “when and how we can fix this gap”. Previously, team boss Christian Horner had admitted to being “concerned” in the face of the dramatic drop in performance of the former long -term winner. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff did not want to know anything about it: “We stand by our drivers,” said Wolff. “That is the decision we made.” Activate external content as again as a chance, Formula 1 newcomer Liam Lawson turned out to be in the second Red Bull. Instead of having to stand up in the fight against McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari, the New Zealander even had to let Oliver Bearman go in the Haas. “Ciao,” the British on the radio mocked when he drove past the Red Bull. Sliced in 15th place, Lawson remained again without points. His early dismissal has long been in the room. Hülkenberg in difficulties for Nico Hülkenberg was even worse. Completed by twelve, the rear of his clean racer suddenly came out of the snail curve, the Rhinelander just caught the company car, but was only the penultimate and drove suddenly afterwards. “I got aggressive oversteering,” I got into gravel, “said the Emmerich at Sky. “The car was no longer intact afterwards, there wasn’t much left.” Because of the ruined underbody and the damaged front wing. No points for Hülkenberg as the finish line, for his colleague Gabriel Bortoleto, in 17th place, it was little better. Piatri and Norris preceded, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen behind, the field sorted out after the start phase, in Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) due to a brake defect. Nothing is worse than if the brakes fail at 350 km / h. The Spaniard confessed a little shock that should later also suffer Norris. For Ferrari, the problems were not over at the beginning after the small collision. Leclerc rushed Hamilton over the 5.4 km long rail. The record world champion received the order to let Leclerc pass. “Yes,” replied Hamilton, “when he gets closer.” The Leclerc, held, scolded: “This is a shame”, the Monegasse sparked, “the pace is here.” For more than fourth place, he said more than the topic of Hamilton finally made room, Leclerc pulled away, but valuable time was irretrievably lost. Meanwhile, Hamilton complained about the flow of information from the box to the cockpit: “Give me some feedback, people,” said the forty -year -old, “I need feedback where I lose time.” The answer from the engineer (“Exit of curve 13”) did not satisfy him: “You already told me,” he replied. After winning the sprint on Saturday, HAMALMON only reached sixth place behind Leclerc at the finish line before both pilots were disqualified hours later: Leclcercs Ferrari is less than one kilogram of 800 kilograms. At Hamilton, the wooden plank on the underbody of the Ferrari was more worn out than allowed. Zero points for the Scuderia. A disaster. “You are no longer allowed to brake” at the top of the field, even after the only pit stop, the pilots got along better with the tires than in the sprint race. Here and there was complained about the declining liability, but the problems were less dramatic than expected. Only for one it became more difficult towards the end. Lando Norris, who still believed in a win, reported a problem with the brakes and stated that the pedal path would be getting longer and longer. The box warned him: “You can no longer brake hard anymore.” Norris did not want to admit this in hunting mode at first, he came closer and closer. And: “Lando, you have to reduce the brake pressure.” Zak Brown gave an insight into the stressful moments at the box: “The problem was initially controlled, but then became critical,” said the American. Norris recognized the seriousness of the situation late, took a journey out and sneaked through the course in the final round. For the follow -up George Russell, it was no longer enough to attempt to overtake, Norris saved second place, so he left Shanghai as the usual reading of the industry, as the first loser. And yet it will be who will travel to Verstappen with eight points ahead of Verstappen, as a leader of the World Cup as a leader of the World Cup at the Japan Grand Prix in Suzuka. Although Zak Brown announced that Piatri will do everything possible to intercept Norris soon: “I am sure that we will experience some epic battles between Oscar and Lando in the course of the year,” said Brown. “It will be pretty stressful. But hey, we are in the Grand Prix racing.”
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