Track Torque: ‘Ton up’ for Red Bull Honda
The top seven cars finished within 43 seconds of each other.
With his win at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai last Sunday, Max Verstappen gave Red Bull their hundredth win in GP racing, as well as continuing on his record-breaking ways.
If Verstappen was not in the race, we would see a good variation of wins from Ferrari, McLaren and others from the mix of top cars.
Even Fernando Alonso, in his Aston Martin, would be in with a chance.
Lando Norris drove a very good race in his McLaren Mercedes, 14 seconds behind Verstappen and 19 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez in the sister Red Bull.
The two Ferraris, driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, finished in fourth and fifth positions respectively, which was a little disappointing.
George Russell drove a good race in his Mercedes to finish sixth, while Alonso was definitely unlucky to finish seventh after being as high as second place at one stage.
The top seven cars finished within 43 seconds of each other.
Oscar Piastri was 13 seconds behind Alonso, which was also a bit disappointing given the speed of his McLaren.
Lewis Hamilton did very well to come from the back of the field right up to ninth place, chasing Oscar Piastri right up to the line. He finished just two seconds behind him.
Nico Hulkenberg was tenth in his Haas Ferrari and is another driver that I think could do a lot better given a faster car.
With Audi entering the fray next year – a year before the change in regulations – we hear they are talking to Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg as drivers for their new team, which is a takeover of Sauber Ferrari.
Does this mean that they will run a Ferrari engine until their new engine is ready for the new regs in 2026?
It will be interesting to see what happens. Watch this space.
The next stop is Miami in two weeks’ time (May 5 race day).
DRIVERS
1 Max Verstappen 110
2 Sergio Perez 85
3 Charles Leclerc 76
4 Carlos Sainz 69
5 Lando Norris 58
6 Oscar Piastri 38
7 George Russell 33
8 Fernando Alonso 31
9 Lewis Hamilton 19
10 Lance Stroll 9
11 Yuki Tsunoda 7
12 Oliver Bearman 6
13 Nico Hulkenberg 4
14 Kevin Magnussen 1
TEAMS
1 Red Bull 195
2 Ferrari 151
3 McLaren 96
4 Mercedes 52
5 Aston Martin 40
6 RB 7
7 Haas 5
HAVE YOUR SAY
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