With the Round 2 Sprint now completed, both the Drivers’ and Constructors' championship races are starting to heat up, meaning that we very well could be in for a truly exciting 2025 season.
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| Chinese GP Pole sitter Piastri (Middle), frontrunner George Russell starting P2 (Left), and current Drivers' leader Lando Norris starting from P3 (Right). Source: Getty Images |
Current Drivers’ Championship leader Lando Norris had a pretty rough race, only starting P6, and quickly falling behind to P9 on the first lap. After making a crucial overtake on Lance Stroll during Lap 17, Norris finished the day at P8, giving him only 1 point to add to his total – which is now 26 points.
Max Verstappen had a solid qual and race, giving him a start at P2, and drove aggressively through the entire race. Unfortunately, Oscar Piastri eventually caught up to and overtook the reigning champ, leaving Verstappen to finish the day in P3 - giving him an extra 6 points, and cutting Norris’ lead down to 2.
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| Russell finding his line during a qualifying session. Source: Getty Images |
George Russell made a solid overtake on Charles Leclerc on Lap 1, putting him up to P4 – where he would ultimately finish 18 Laps later. His consistency and grit netted himself and the Mercedes team 5 points, bringing his 3rd place total up to 20 points, just 4 behind Verstappen.
Rookie sensation Kimi Antonelli did extremely well handling his own against his veteran counterparts, only being passed once by Yuki Tsunoda. His performance added 2 more points to his totals, bringing him up to 14 points and sitting comfortably in 4th place.
Unluckily for Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, and Nico Hülkenburg, they all finished outside the points at P11, P9, and P19 respectively. This keeps Albon at 5th in the standings, drops Stroll down from 6th and into 8th, and drops Hülkenburg from 7th to 10th.
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| Piastri showing excellent form during his qualifying lap. Source: Getty Images |
Lewis Hamilton secured the Scuderia 8 points for his Sprint victory yesterday, bringing up to 6th place in the Drivers’ standings with 9 points. Currently tied with Hamilton is Piastri, who took P2 from Verstappen and secured an extra 7 points to add to his total and moved him up to 7th place.
Charles Leclerc did a decent job at staying in the top 5, only being passed by an eager Russell to drop into P5 where he finished the day. Nonetheless, this grabbed him an extra 4 points, and tied him with Stroll for 8th place.
Tsunoda had a great start, making his moves early on in the first lap, and holding off Mercedes’ Antonelli the entire race. His performance in the Sprint today saw him take P6 and and 3 points, which puts him up the leaderboard into 11th.
Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan, and Isack Hadjar still have yet to score any points this season, but with 22 races left there is still plenty of time to make a play for the championship.
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| Piastri gets his first pole of the season in Chinese GP. Source: Getty Images |
All eyes will now be on McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who sits on Pole for the Chinese GP later today, to see if he can put in his bid for the Drivers' Championship against teammate Lando Norris, who will line up in P3 behind George Russell. Can McLaren add to their early lead, or will Mercedes be able to swoop in and steal it away?
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