Formula One arrived in Shanghai and what a weekend it has been so far. With the sprint race happening yesterday and Mercedes and Ferrari seemingly in control of the pack each race, the race could be interesting.
Kimi Antonelli became the youngest ever pole sitter after issues with George Russells car meant he only got one flying lap in Q3.
Reigning champions Mclaren have both cars out of the race after power unit issues saw Lando Norris not leave the garage and Oscar Piastri also facing a power unit issue which saw him pushed off the grid before the formation lap, but it was a different issue to Norris.
Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortaleto were also out of the race with issues forcing them to retire.
Lap one was chaos, lock ups, overtakes and spins, causing drivers to react quickly. Antonelli and Russell got away nicely but the Ferrari drivers of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were rockets off the line and managed to get into P1 and P2 by the second corner.
Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman getting spicy with each other with Bearman trying to overtake Hadjar but going wide allowing Hadjar back past, as Hadjar tried to pull away he spun off the track as Bearman had to take avoiding action and also go off the track.
Max Verstappen had an awful start with not getting off the line quick enough with the car bottoming out, he managed to get going and was soon back into the top 10.
Lance Stroll stopped on track bringing out the safety car, everyone pitted minus Verstappen, Lawson and Alonso who pitted before. Franco Colapinto moved up to P2 after starting the race on the hard tyres.
The restart was chaos, Antonelli getting away nicely, slowly followed by Colapinto and Esteban Ocon, the Ferrari’s soon followed in suit as they passed the Alpine and the Haas.
Lap 19, the Alpines and Haas are fighting with each other with Verstappen also getting involved in the battles.
Lap 26, both Ferrari’s are fighting with each other for positions. Hamilton and Leclerc swapping positions and almost banging wheels bringing Russell back into the race.
Leclerc came out on top of the Ferrari battle but Russell soon ruined their party but overtaking them both and took second place. Antonelli meanwhile was nearly eight seconds clear of the rest of the pace.
Lap 34, after Colapinto pitted and came back out, Ocon was close behind and tried to go around him at turn two but Colapinto turned in to the apex and didn’t see Ocon behind him. Ultimately, both drivers spun but managed to get going again. Ocon was handed a 10 second time penalty.
Alonso managed more laps than anticipated, he retired on lap 35.
Lap 36, Ferrari at it again with both drivers fighting each other and coming quite close to each other. Leclerc ran wide allowing Hamilton to go past him and into third place.
The likes of Cadillac, Racing Bulls, Williams, Audi and Red Bull are all still in this race but they aren’t involved in as much battles as the front runners. Lindblad and Lawson are having a good race, lap 44 Lindblad pitted for a set of mediums to try and help him gain ground with a fresh set of tyres.
The Cadillac drivers of Bottas and Perez were having a lonely race in P14 and P15 but they’re still going and getting data from the drivers which will help the team to know where they need to improve.
Max Verstappen on lap 46 has been told to retire to car, it is uncertain as to why or what the issue is but Verstappen will not finish the race in China.
Lap 53, Antonelli locks up and the gap goes from 9.1seconds to 7.5seconds. He manages to get back on to the track and still leads to try and win his first formula 1 race.
After starting the race on pole, losing the lead to the Ferrari drivers, but getting back into the lead, Kimi Antonelli has lead every lap since. He became the youngest pole sitter ever in the history of Formula 1, he won’t become the youngest winner in formula 1 but Kimi Antonelli has won his first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton finally gets his Ferrari podium he waited a year for with a 3.7second gap to teammate Charles Leclerc.
Seven drivers failed to finish the Chinese Grand Prix, with four failing to start, will Formula 1 need to look into the PU issues more closely or will teams need to hope and pray their issues resolve themselves.
(Feature image by Victoria Dutton)
Motor Sport Central 
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