Bear Sports News

Chinese Grand Prix – BSN After Race Quick Thoughts

The Chinese Grand Prix kicked off with early fireworks, and that was even before the action took place on track. As the teams were preparing for the race, problems emerged for both McLarens. They were unable to start the race and did not participate in today’s Chinese GP. Gabriel Bortoleto and Alex Albon also didn’t make the start in this one, making another race weekend with four or more DNFs before the green flag emerged.

Once again, the name of the game today was to save, save, save battery. We saw it last weekend with these new regulations: one driver depletes the battery, which allows the other driver to pass while using their battery, all while the driver whose battery was depleted has already reharvested and passed the driver. It’s essentially a DRS train, but with more racing, passing, and strategy at times.

Today’s race proved one thing: the Mercedes is definitely the fastest car on the grid. Now, that’s not something that we all may have already known, but today certified it. That speed, however, won’t always translate to an easy 1–2 finish.

“Man, they’re just fast in all the right places” – George Russell — LAP 29

For thirty laps, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, and Lewis Hamilton gave us some stellar racing, all while the Ferrari boys kept Russell behind in fourth. George Russell didn’t have an easy time completing the passes, but he finally did. If George Russell fans were looking for a second straight victory, well, Kimi Antonelli had other plans. By the time George Russell jumped up to second, Antonelli was already ahead by 5+ seconds. The first Italian winner since 2007 beat out his Mercedes teammate by 9+ seconds, proving his tremendous race pace throughout the day.

Ferrari showed today that they definitely could keep this championship battle interesting. Now, the question is, will their strategy team be able to hold their end of the bargain? The drivers did theirs, raced each other hard, and did their best to keep the rocket ship behind. Hamilton earned the podium for Ferrari, which was his first career podium for the Ferrari team. Leclerc brought home the other red Ferrari P4. It’s only the second race of the season, but if Ferrari is able to keep this up, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see them battling for the constructors at the end of the year.

Ollie Bearman, pat yourself on the back. He started P10 and was able to bring it home P5. The same driver who during testing told reporters that F1 should’ve kept the old regulations is now P5 in the drivers’ championship. HAAS now moves up into fourth in the constructors’ championship, overtaking Red Bull. Bearman had an amazing weekend and will be looking to continue to build on these impressive finishes.

Another amazing underdog story this weekend is Pierre Gasly. After Alpine finished with 22 points scored last season, this must feel incredibly sweet for the team. Gasly started P7 in both the Sprint race and the Grand Prix and did not disappoint. Gasly was one of the few drivers who couldn’t wait to see the new regulations come into the sport. Today, he showed off just what he can do, capitalizing on McLaren’s double “Did Not Start” and already getting to 10 points scored this season, only twelve points off meeting their overall 2025 points total.

Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar rounded out the drivers who finished on the lead lap. No, there’s no reason to go back and count. The Mercedes essentially lapped half the field, and almost lapped Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon twice. Antonelli likely would’ve as well but had a moment into T1 in the final five laps of the race.

Hadjar did impress me today though, after getting spun out early in the race. He was able to salvage some points for Red Bull and walk away with a P8 finish, with Lawson finishing P7.

Below is the full classification of the Chinese Grand Prix! We hope you enjoyed our quick thoughts after the race that we plan to release every race weekend, within 30 minutes of the checkered flag flying.